Full text of "London vanished and vanishing"

See other formats

VANISHED 6 VANISHING

PAINTED 8
DESCRIBED

BY PHILIP
NORMAN

^^^L^^-^-j^^

GIFT OF

THOMAS RUTHERFORD BACON
KieMORlAL UBRARY

LONDON

VANISHED & VANISHING

AGENTS IN AMERICA

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

LONDON

VANISHED & VANISHING

PAINTED &
DESCRIBED
BY PHILIP
NORMAN

ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, LONDON

lit: ' ■

Pubbshed No-vember 1905

PREFACE

Until the beginning of the nineteenth century
time had dealt kindly with our great Capital, at
least from the point of view of a lover of the
past. In the confines of the City there were
still many houses of timbered or half-timbered
construction, which had evidently existed before
the Great Fire, and the plain but well-propor-
tioned buildings which came into being shortly
after that catastrophe were so common that they
hardly attracted notice. Merchants dwelt where
their business was carried on, and worshipped hard
by, in the City churches where their fathers had
worshipped before them ; and, if they went on a
journey, they started from one of those quaint
galleried inns of which a solitary survivor yet
remains in the Borough High Street. The west
end of London terminated at Hyde Park Corner ;

9>*

vi LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Tothill Fields were fields indeed ; houses had begun
to spread in the direction of Paddington, but farther
east Tavistock Square and the Foundling Hospital
marked the northern limitations. On a plan dated
1802 Mile End appears to be in the country, and
most of the present South London was market
garden or marsh.

Even during the writer's childhood the City
was still old fashioned ; Kensington — the " old
Court Suburb" — had somewhat the appearance
of a country town, while that part of Chelsea
which bordered on the Thames was a straggling
river-side hamlet. But in this time of rapid change,
a generation makes all the difference. Growth
and destruction have gone hand in hand, and soon
perhaps it will be as difficult to find an old house
within the four -mile radius as to light upon an
unrestored church — or to flush a snipe in Eaton
Square.

The writer, for many years, has employed his
spare time in examining those older portions of
London which have now been to a great extent
" improved " away ; he has visited them again and
again, making notes on the spot, with brush and

PREFACE vii

pencil, of picturesque buildings, threatened with
destruction. He has also hunted up old documents
relating to them, and has carefully checked any
statements on the subject by previous writers. x^
The result of what has been to him a labour of
love may perhaps have interest, even value, for
the public. This must be his excuse for adding to
the already long list of publications on old London.
The buildings alluded to in this work are widely
scattered : they must be looked upon as a selection
only of what we are losing, for in no single volume
is there space, and no man alone can have had
time and energy, to deal with a tithe of the
interesting structures, from Mile End to Hammer-
smith, which either still drag on a precarious
existence or have not long passed away. The
letterpress is divided into chapters, beginning with
the east and south east, progress being made by
easy stages to the west, so that what has been
written takes more or less the form of an itinerary,
but the requirements of the subject make it
impossible to follow absolutely any fixed plan.
Southwark, which forms the subject of the opening
chapter, was studied by Mr. Norman long ago in

viii LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

conjunction with the late Dr. Rendle. The result
first appeared in a volume on the inns of that early
settled district, which was issued in a limited edition,
and has long been out of print. On the old houses
in the City and west end he wrote and illustrated
two articles for the English Illustrated Magazine,
when it was so admirably conducted under the
ownership of Messrs. Macmillan, and a third during
the reign of Messrs. Ingram. On other City subjects,
which here occupy his attention, he has written
in the publications of the Society of Antiquaries,
and of the Surrey Archaeological Society, also for
the Burlington Magazine, and the Home Counties
Magazine, known in its earlier days as Middlesex
and Hertfordshire Notes and Queries.

To Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke, C.I.E., and others
who have been, or are, connected with the Board of
Education, he tenders his hearty thanks for per-
mission to reproduce the water-colour drawings by
him which for the present at least have found a
home in the Bethnal Green Museum, and for their
kindly help in other respects. He is also grateful
to the authorities of the Art Gallery, Guildhall, to
the Hon. W, F. D. Smith, M.P., to Miss Jones,

PREFACE ix

V to Mr. J. J. Hamilton, to Mr. E. Norman, and to
Mr. J. Ritchie, for allowing water-colours in their
possession to be reproduced.

In his views the writer has made truthful record
the first consideration, combining this, to the best
of his ability, with pictorial effect. If it be objected
that houses of entertainment have had too much
attraction for him, he would point out that those
which he knew best were of rare beauty and
interest ; besides, it was their outward appearance,
not the interiors, with which he was often est
familiar. Of the seventy -five illustrations here
given, about sixty represent buildings which have
entirely disappeared, a notable number while this v^

book was in progress, and only some half-dozen of
the subjects remain altogether unchanged.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAOE

SOUTHWARK ...... 1

CHAPTER II

The City and East End . . . .47

CHAPTER III

More City Houses . . . . .83

CHAPTER IV

Some Ancient City Relics . . . .111

CHAPTER V

The Ward of Farringdon Without . .149

CHAPTER VI

About the Inns of Court and Chancery . .180

xii LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

CHAPTER VII

Westward, Ho ! . . .

CHAPTER VIII

The Western Fringe .... 263

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

8
10

1. Holywell Street, Strand, looking West, 1900 . Frontispiece

2. Tabard Inn, Southwark, 1810 .

3. White Hart Inn, Southwark, 1884 .

4. Gallery of White Hart Inn, Southwark, 1884

5. Old Houses, Inner Yard of White Hart Inn, South

wark, 1884

6. Back of White Hart Inn, Southwark, 1884

7. George Inn, Southwark, 1885 .

8. Queen's Head Inn, Southwark, 1883

9. Back of Queen's Head Inn, Southwark, 1884

10. Last of King's Head Inn, Southwark, 1884

11. Layton's Buildings, Southwark, 1904

12. Sir Paul Pindar's House, Bishopsgate Street, 1877

13. Tower of Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, and Old

Houses in Fore Street, 1884

14. No. 10 Great St. Helen's, and Entrance of St. Helen's

Church, 1893

15. Entrance to Bishopsgate from Great St. Helen's, 1890

16. Almshouses of Skinners' Company, Mile End, 1892

17. Vine Tavern, Mile End, looking East, 1887 .

xiii

12
14
16
18
20
24
32
52

72
74
76

xiv LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

FACING PAGE

18. Vine Tavern, Mile End, looking West, 1903 . 78

19. Staircase of No. 10 Austin Friars, 1895 . 88

20. No. 23 Great Winchester Street, 1890 . . 92

21. Chimney-piece and part of Room at No. 4 Coleman

Street, 1892 94

22. Doorways of Nos. 1 and 2 Laurence Poultney Hill,

1895 96

23. Old Buildings from St. Paul's Pier, 1894 . . 100

24. Dean's Court, St. Paul's Churchyard, 1894 . . 102

25. Swan with Two Necks Inn, Carter Lane, 1894 . . 104

26. Back of Green Dragon Tavern, St. Andrew's Hill, 1 890 106

27. Reminiscence of Oxford Arms Inn, Warwick Lane,

1875 .108

28. Remains of Roman Wall, Newgate, 1903 . . . 114

29. Mediaeval Arches, Ireland Yard, Blackfriars, 1900 ll6

30. Church of St. Michael, Wood Street, 1896 . . 120

31. Church of St. Michael, Bassishaw, 1897 . . . . 126

32. Interior of Church of All Hallows, Upper Thames

Street, 1894 128

33. Doorway of St. George's Church, Botolph Lane, 1904 130

34. Crypt of Sir John de Pulteney's Mansion, Laurence

Poultney Hill, 1894 132

35. Entrances of Christ's Hospital, and of Christ Church,

1895 144

36. Cloth Fair, West Smithfield, looking West, 1904 150

37. Yard of Old Bell Inn, Holborn, from North, 1897 154

38. Yard of Old Bell Inn, Holborn, from South, 1897 158

39. Coffee-room of Old Bell Inn, Holborn, 1897 . . l60

40. Old Bell Inn and Black Bull, from Holborn, 1897 l60

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

41. Leather Lane, looking South towards Holbom, 1897

42. Passage North side of Holbom, 1 897

43. White Hart Yard, Brooke Street, Holbom, 1903

44. Gateway and Entrance of White Horse Inn, Fetter

Lane, 1898

45. No. 10 Nevill's Court, Fetter Lane, 1891 .

46. Nos. 13, 14, and 15 Nevill's Court, Fetter Lane, 1901

47. Dining-room of Cock Tavern, Fleet Street, destroyed

1886 . . . . .

48. Temple Bar, 1876

49. Room in Inner Temple Gate-house, 1899 •

50. Dick's Coffee-house, Fleet Street, 1899 •

51. No. 15 Gray's Inn Square from Field Court, 1904

52. Staple Inn, Holbom, 1884

53. Hall of Barnard's Inn, Holbom, 1886

54. Part of Barnard's Inn, Holbom, 1886

55. Garden House, Clement's Inn, 1883 .

56. Portsmouth House, South- West Comer of Lincoln's

Inn Fields, 1904

57. "Old Curiosity Shop," Portsmouth Street, 1884

58. Holy^vell Street, Strand, looking East, 19OO

59. Wych Street, Strand, looking North- West, 19OI

60. Nell Gwjm's Lodging, Drury Lane, February, 1881

61. No. 10 Downing Street, 1888 ....

62. Garden of No. 10 Downing Street, 1888 .

63. Emanuel Hospital, Westminster, 1890

64. Six Bells Tavern and Bowling Green, Chelsea, 19OO

65. Maunder's Fish Shop, Cheyne Walk, 1887

FACING PAGE
162

162
164

166

168

170

174
178
184
202
204
210
212
214
216

234
240
242
244
246
258
258
262
264
266

xvi LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

FACING PAGE

66. Turner's House^ Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, 1887 ■

67. Sandford Manor House from back garden, 1898

68. Staircase of Sandford Manor House, 1898 .

69. Old Houses on Site of Victoria and Albert Museum

1899

70. Scarsdale House, Wright's Lane, Kensington, 1892

71. Garden from Scarsdale House, Kensington, 1892

72. York House and Garden, Church Street, Kensington

1899

73. Red Cow Public-House and Fairlawn, Hammersmith

Road, 1897

74. Bradmore House, Hammersmith, April 1904

75. Thatched Cottage near Paddington Green, 1895

266
270
270

274
276
276

280

282
282
284

The Illustrations in this volume have been engraved in England by
Hentschel Golmirtype, Ltd.

LONDON
VANISHED AND VANISHING

CHAPTER I

SOUTHWARK

Southwark is a ward of London without the walls, on the south
side thereof, as is Portsoken on the east, and Farringdon extra on the
west— J. Stow (1598).

That part of Southwark which extends from the
river to the Church of St. George the Martyr,
although no doubt it was once mostly covered by
water at high tide, like the rest of the low-lying
land immediately to the south of the Thames, was
early reclaimed and occupied by the Romans, ta
whom the importance of holding this approach
to London must at once have become evident.
Many discoveries have been made of Roman
remains on each side of the High Street. Already
when they were deposited, perhaps long before,

the river must have been embanked to some extent

2 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

on this side, and there was doubtless a causeway
leading over the partially reclaimed land in the
direction of the south-east coast, from a ferry
which we may assume to have been replaced by a
bridge during the Roman occupation, for, although
no Roman foundations have come to light, the
discovery of thousands of coins, dating from the
time of Augustus to that of Honorius, and of
many objects of Roman art, in the bed of the
river along the site of the old London Bridge,
almost puts the matter beyond a doubt. Some
writers, on the strength of a statement by Ptolemy
the geographer that- London was in the region of
the Cantii, have assumed that Southwark was the
town originally settled, but, apart from, other con-
siderations, this, from the nature of the ground,
is highly improbable.

In mediaeval times the road through Southwark
had an importance peculiarly its own, not only as
the chief thoroughfare for purposes of business
and pleasure between London, the south-eastern
counties, and the Continent, but because during
many generations it was worn by pilgrims travel-
ling to and from the shrine of the most popular
of English saints — the **holy, blissful martyr,"
Thomas a Becket. Again, for whatever purpose a

SOUTHWARK S

journey might be undertaken, it must undoubtedly
have been convenient to make a start from outside
the City walls. Thus, when the great religious
establishments and lay owners of important houses
no longer bore the chief burden of hospitality, and
public inns had become common, what is now
usually called the Borough High Street was occu-
pied by them in number out of all proportion to
ordinary shops and dwellings. John Stow, the early
historian of London, in his Survey (1598), implies
as much. Beginning at the Marshalsea Prison,
which was only about a quarter of a mile from the
Thames, on the east side of the Borough High
Street, he says : " From thence towards London
Bridge on the same side be many fair inns for the
receipt of travellers, by these signs, the Spurre,
Christopher, Bull, Queen's Head, Tabard, George,
Hart, King's Head, etc." He wrote, it is true,
in Protestant times, but these houses, standing
close together, had then been long established,
and most of them continued to exist as coaching
and carriers' inns until by the advent of railways the
whole conditions of life were gradually changed.

Of the inns appearing in the above list, five at
least have something of historic interest. We
will begin with the Tabard, which was one of the

4 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

earliest public hostelries in this country, and
also one of the most famous, owing to the fact
that Chaucer has selected it as the starting-point
of his pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales, In these
words he introduces the subject : —

Byfel that in that sesoun on a day.

In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay.

Ready to wenden on my pilgrimage

To Caunterbury with ful devout corage,

At night was come into that hostelrie

Wei nyne and twenty in a compainye

Of sondry folk, by aventure i-falle

In felaweschipe and pilgryms were thei alle,

That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde ;

The chambres and the stables weren wyde.

And wel we weren esed atte b^ste.

Chaucer even gives us the name of the jovial
landlord, Henry Bailly, a real personage, who
represented Southwark in the Parliament held at
Westminster, a.d. 1376. The Tabard is again
mentioned by Chaucer as follows : —

In Southwerk, at this gentil hostelrye.

That highte the Tabard, faste by the Belle —

the latter being a house on the opposite side of the

road, the site now covered by Maidstone Buildings.

Coming to the actual facts connected with the

Tabard, it may be mentioned that as early as

SOUTHWARK 5

the year 1304 the Abbot and Convent of Hyde,
near Winchester, purchased here from William de
Lategareshall two houses held of the Archbishop
of Canterbury. On this site the abbot built for
himself a town dwelling, and at the same time,
it is believed, a hostelry for the convenience of
travellers. In 1307 he obtained licence from the
Bishop of Winchester to build a chapel at or by
the inn. In a later deed occur the following
words : " The Abbott's lodgeinge was wyninge to
the backside of the inn called the Tabarde, and had
a garden attached." Stow describes it as " a fair
house for him and his train when he came to that
city to Parliament." It should be borne in mind
that at this period, and for centuries afterwards, the
roads of London and its suburbs being sometimes
almost impassable, the Thames supplied the most
convenient means of communication between places
by its banks. Hence it came about that the great
ecclesiastics almost always had their town dwellings
not far from the river, and that South wark was
peculiarly favoured by them, for besides the Palace
of the Bishops of Winchester and Rochester
House, there were the hostelries of the Abbots
of Hyde, Battle, Waverley, and St. Augustine,
and of the Prior of Lewes, all near together, and

6 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

within easy access of the "silent highway." Lay
people of the highest rank also made their homes
in Southwark from time to time, before fashion
moved west.

An early notice of the Tabard Inn occurs in
one of the Rolls of Parliament, dated 1381, where,
in a list of people who had been connected with
Jack Cade's rebellion, one finds the name of " John
Brewersman " staying at the " Tabbard." " Jockey
of Norfolk," who died at Bosworth, fighting in the
vanguard for Richard III., was a frequenter of
Southwark when still Sir John Howard, and knew
our inn well. He called there, April 18, 1469,
and doubtless on other occasions, as we learn from
a volume on the Manners and Household Expenses
of England, published by the Roxburghe Club.

A lease of the Tabard before the dissolution has
lately been found and printed with notes by the
writer. Its chief interest lies in the enumeration of
the rooms and their fixtures, given in the schedule,
which may not unlikely represent the house much
as it was in Chaucer's time. The rooms have names,
such as the " Rose parlar," the " Clyff parlar," the
" Crowne chamber," the " Keye chamber," and the
" Corne chamber," reminding one of similar names
used by Elizabethan dramatists. Thus in Shake-

SOUTHWARK 7

speare's 1 King Henry IV, Act ii. Scene 4,
mention is made of the "Half Moon" and the
" Pomegranate " at the Boar's Head Tavern, East-
cheap. In the London Chaunticleres, 1659, the
tapster of an inn thus describes his morning's
work : " I have cut two dozen of toste, broacht
a new barrell of ale, washt all the cups and
flaggons, made a fire i' th' George, drained all the
beer out of th' Half Moon the company left o'
th' floore last night, wip'd down all the tables, and
have swept every room."

At the Dissolution the Tabard, with other
possessions of Abbot Salcote or Capon, was sur-
rendered and granted by the King to Thomas and
John Master. The sign of the Tabard (a sleeve-
less coat, like that worn by heralds) was used until
about the end of the sixteenth century, when it was
little by little changed to Talbot, perhaps through
fancy or carelessness. According to Aubrey, " the
ignorant landlord or tenant, instead of the ancient
sign of the Tabard," put up " the Talbot, a species
of dog." Be this as it may, in certain Chancery
proceedings of June 27, 1599, both names are
used. About this time there were large additions
to the building. Speght says in his second edition
of Chaucer (1602); "Whereas through time it

8 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

has been much decaied, it is now by Master J.
Preston, with the Abbot's house thereto adjoined,
newly repaired, and with convenient rooms much
increased for the receipt of many guests." In
1637 John Taylor, sometimes called "the water-
poet," in his enumeration of Southwark inns, tells
us that " carriers from Crambrooke and Benenden
in Kent, and from Lewis, Petworth, Uckfield, and
Cuckfield, in Sussex, doe lodge at the Tabbard or
Talbot " ; thus showing that the old name still
lingered. In 1676, ten years after the great
London fire, occurred a great Southwark fire,
when something like five hundred houses perished ;
it began between this inn and the George, and we
are expressly told that " the Talbot, with its back-
houses and stables, etc., was burnt to the ground."
It was, however, rebuilt more or less on the
old plan, and continued to be a picturesque and
interesting example of seventeenth-century archi-
tecture until 1875 ; in that and the following year
the whole, with its extensive yards and stabling,
was swept away. Hop merchants' offices and a
modern " Old Tabard " occupy the site. Our illus-
tration was copied by the writer many years ago
from a water-colour drawing by George Shepherd
(1810), which belonged at the time to a hop

SOUTHWARK 9

merchant, the late Mr. Evans, who occupied rooms
at the George Inn Yard, where he resided.

The inn which we will now attempt to describe
was situated a short distance to the north of the
Tabard, also on the east side of the Borough High
Street, and from the purely historical point of
view it even exceeded in interest that famous
hostelry. All the South wark inns, like those
on the opposite side of the Thames, which were
plentiful in the City and along the chief thorough-
fares leading to it, had been built more or less on
a similar plan. An old-fashioned house usually
faced the street, with an archway beneath, the gate
of which was closed at night. Passing through
this archway one entered a yard, round which ran
the galleries containing bedrooms, where the guests
were lodged. In this outer yard, as we know
from historical evidence, theatrical pieces were
occasionally played, but no Southwark inn is con-
nected by name with such performance, except
during the annual fair, in comparatively modern
times. Beyond the first enclosure was a larger
yard, with offices, ample stabling, and usually
various tenements.

The White Hart was perhaps the largest
Southwark inn, and appears to have dated from

10 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

the latter part of the fourteenth century, the sign
being a badge of Richard II., derived from his
mother, Joan of Kent. In the summer of 1450
it was Jack Cade's headquarters while he was
striving to gain possession of London. Hall, in
his Chronicle, thus speaks of him : " The capitayn
being advertized of the kynge's absence came first
into Southwarke, and there lodged at the White
Hart, prohibiting to all men murder, rape, or
robbery ; by which colour he allured to him the
hartes of the common people." However, it must
have been by his order, if not in his presence,
that " at the Whyt harte in Southwarke, one
Hawaydyne of sent Martyns was beheaded," as
we are told in the Chronicle of the Grey Friars of
London, Sir John Fastolf, who, although he must
have furnished a name to Shakespeare's FalstaiF,
had nothing else in common with him, owned an
important dwelling-house and much property in
Southwark. At the same inn, during this out-
break. Sir John's servant, Payn, was grievously
maltreated, being saved from instant assassination
by Robert Poynings, a man of note, who had
thrown in his lot with the rebels, and was Jack
Cade's carver and sword-bearer. Payn's property,
however, was pillaged, his wife and children were

OF THE

UIMIVER«,/Ty

SOUTHWARK 11

threatened, and she left with " no more gode but
her kyrtyll and her smook." Besides, he was
thrust into the forefront of a fight then raging
on London Bridge, where he was " woundyd and
hurt nere hand to death." Cade's success was of
short duration, his followers wavered ; he said, or
might have said, in the words attributed to him by
Shakespeare {2 Henry F^L Act iv. Scene 8), " Hath
my sword therefore broken through London gates,
that you should leave me at the White Hart in
Southwark ? " The outbreak collapsed, and our
inn is not heard of for some generations.

In 1529 a message was sent to Thomas Crom-
well, the notorious minister of Henry VIII., by
some one asking for an interview at the White
Hart. Twenty years afterwards Sheffield iron was
stored here, and sold at £8 : 12s. a ton. In 1637
it is noted as a famous house of call for carriers
to and from various towns in Kent and Surrey.
About this time churchwardens used to visit the
various inns of the borough and report those
where drinking went on during divine service ;
the White Hart, the George, the King s Head,
the Queen's Head, and others were in their black
list. John Taylor, the "water-poet," who must
have known the White Hart well, as he lived in

12 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Southwark for some years, strings together the
following rhymes about it — the result, perhaps, of
personal experience : —

Although these Harts doe never run away,
They'll tire a man to hunt them every day ;
The Game and Chase is good for Recreation,
But dangerous to mak't an occupation.

In 1669 the back of the inn was burnt down,
and in repairing the damage the landlord, Geary,
"to his undoing" spent £700. On May 26, 1676,
occurred the terrible fire already alluded to ; the
White Hart was quite destroyed ; but it was rebuilt
shortly afterwards on the old foundations, at a
cost of £2400, Geary again providing the money
with the aid of his friends. The owner, John
Collett, gives him a sixty-one years' lease, with an
annual rent of £55, In 1720 Strype describes it
as very large and of a considerable trade, being
esteemed one of the best inns in Southwark, and
it so continued until the early years of the present
century. Charles Dickens, in the tenth chapter
of Pickwick, has given us the following graphic
description of the house when something of its old
prosperity still clung to it : —

"In the Borough especially, there still remain
some half-dozen old inns which have preserved

OF THE

'Form'

SOUTHWARK 18

their external features unchanged, and which have
escaped alike the rage for public improvement and
the encroachments of private speculation. Great,
rambling, queer old places they are, with galleries,
and passages, and staircases, wide enough and anti-
quated enough to furnish material for a hundred
ghost stories. It was in the yard of one of these
inns — of no less celebrated a one than the White
Hart — that a man was busily employed in brush-
ing the dirt off a pair of boots, early on the
morning succeeding the events narrated in the last
chapter. The yard presented none of that bustle
and activity which are the usual characteristics of a
large coach inn. Three or four lumbering wagons,
each with a pile of goods beneath its ample canopy,
about the height of a second-floor window of an
ordinary house, were stowed away beneath a lofty
roof, which extended over one end of the yard ;
and another, which was probably to commence its
journey that morning, was drawn out into the open
space. A double tier of bedroom galleries, with
old clumsy balustrades, ran round two sides of the
straggling area, and a double row of bells to corre-
spond, sheltered from the weather by a little sloping
roof, hung over the door looking to the bar and
coffee-room. Two or three gigs and chaise-carts

14 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

were wheeled up under different little sheds and
penthouses, and the occasional heavy tread of a
cart-horse, or rattling of a chain at the end of the
yard, announced to anybody who cared about the
matter, that the stable lay in that direction. When
we add that a few boys in smock frocks were lying
asleep on heavy packages, woolpacks, and other
articles that were scattered about on heaps of straw,
we have described as fully as need be the general
appearance of the yard of the White Hart Inn,
High Street, Borough, on the particular morning
in question."

It is needless to add that the man cleaning boots
was Sam Weller, and it was the fact of his inter-
view here with Mr. Pickwick which, led to his
entering the service of that gentleman.

In 1865-66 the south side of the building was
replaced by a modern tavern, which appears to the
right of our illustration of the outer yard. Some
years previously the yard had been disfigured by
a penthouse or lean-to, also shown in this drawing,
it was used for the business of a bacon -drier.
The old galleries on the north and east sides were
let out in tenements, and the presence of their
inmates gave life and movement to the scene. In
the inner yard stood some quaint old houses, also

SOUTHWARK 15

crowded with lodgers. From hence, looking back,
one often saw the smoke of the bacon -curer's
furnaces picturesquely curling out of the windows
of the main building. Here, too, every afternoon,
might be seen a solitary omnibus which plied to
Clapham, the last descendant of the old coaches.
The accompanying illustrations of this inn were
painted in 1884. In the early autumn of that
year these various lodgers had notice to quit ; but
the remains of the old White Hart Inn were not
pulled down until July 1889. Since then hop
factor's offices have been built on the site, the
yard being very much curtailed. The modern
tavern on the south side still remains, but was
closed when the writer last saw it in July 1904.

Between the Tabard and the White Hart was
the George, another of the "fair inns" noted by
Stow in 1598. The exact date of its erection has
not been found out, but it is mentioned as the
St. George in 1554 — " St. George that swinged the
Dragon, and sits on horseback at mine hostess'
door." By 1558, however, the " Saint " is omitted,
for Humfrey Colet, who had been Member of
Parliament for Southwark, mentions in his will
that he owns the George, "now in the, tenure of
Nicholas Martin, Hosteler." In 1634 a return was

16 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

made that the George Inn, or tenements within its
precinct, had been built of brick and timber in
1622. The landlord was reported in 1634, and
doubtless on various other occasions, because he
allowed drinking to go on at the time of divine
service. Soon after the middle of the seventeenth
century, in a book called Musarum Delicice, or the
Muses Recreation, compiled by Sir John Mennes
(admiral and chief comptroller of the navy) and Dr.
James Smith, appeared some lines " upon a surfeit
caught by drinking bad sack at the George Tavern
in Southwark," of which the following is a sample : —

The Devill would abhorre such posset-drinke,
Bacchus, I'm sure, detests it, 'tis too bad
For Hereticks ; a Friar would be mad
To blesse such vile unconsecrable StufFe,
And Brownists would conclude it good enough
For such a sacrifice.

Perhaps the landlord mended his ways ; in any
case, the rent was shortly afterwards £150 a year,,
a large sum for those days. Two seventeenth-
century trade tokens of the house exist. One of
them reads thus : —
Obverse, — anthony • blake • tapster- ye george •

INN • SOUTHWARKE

Reverse. — (No legend.) Three tobacco pipes and

four pots.

SOUTHWARK 17

In 1670 the George was partly burnt, and it was
totally destroyed in the Southwark fire of 1676.

A story has been told of the sixth Lord Digby,
who succeeded to the peerage in 1752, which is
perhaps worth repeating here. It is said that at
Christmas and Easter he appeared very grave, and
though usually well dressed was then in the habit
of putting on a shabby blue coat. This excited
the curiosity of Mr. Fox, his uncle, who had him
watched, when it was discovered that twice a year,
or oftener, he was in the habit of going to the
Marshalsea Prison and freeing prisoners there. The
next time the almsgiving coat appeared a friend
boldly asked him why he wore it. By way of reply
Lord Digby took the gentleman to the George Inn,
where seated at dinner were thirty people, whom
his Lordship had just released from the neighbour-
ing Marshalsea by payment of their debts in full.

In 1825 the George is reported in guide-book
language as "a good commercial inn — whence
several coaches and many waggons depart laden
with the merchandise of the metropolis, in return
for which they bring back from various parts of
Kent, etc., that staple article of the country, the
hop, to which we are indebted for the good quality
of the London porter."

18 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

After being for a time in the hands of Guy's
Hospital it was sold about thirty years ago to the
Great Northern Railway Company. Only a frag-
ment of it, but a picturesque one, remains, that
part which appears to the right of our illustration.
The rest of the building was pulled down in 1889
or shortly afterwards. The interior of the coffee-
room on the ground floor still retains its old-
fashioned look. On the opposite side of the yard
was a dining-room, where, until the time of its
destruction, a few friends used to meet under the
title of the Four-o'clock Club, though latterly they
dined at half -past six or seven. Mr. J. Ashby-
Sterry, who has written so charmingly on old
London, and on most things connected with
Dickens, is convinced that the George and not
the White Hart was really the place where Mr.
Pickwick first met the incomparable Sam. In the
Bystander (1901) he gives his reasons, and doubtless
the description might apply to either fabric. The
writer would add that he once asked the late
Charles Dickens junior his opinion on this point ;
his reply was that he had never heard anything
from his father to support the suggestion.

Next to the Tabard, on the south side, was the
Queen's Head, another of the inns mentioned by

SOUTHWARK 19

Stow. This was on the site of an interesting house
called the Crowned or Cross Keys, that belonged
to the Poynings family, of which Jack Cade's
adherent Robert was a member. In 1452 a pay-
ment of 6s. 8d. is recorded for the burial of a
retainer of Poynings at St. Margaret's Church,
which, until after the Dissolution, stood in the
street almost immediately opposite. Robert Poyn-
ings had been pardoned, and afterwards married
Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Paston, but was
killed within a little more than two years of his
marriage in the second battle of St. Albans. On
December 15, 1468, his widow writes from South-
wark, probably from this house, to her nephew,
about the various properties in which through her
late husband she is interested, among them the
manors of Chelsfield and North Cray.

In 1518 and afterwards the Poynings let the
Crowned Keys for 40s. the half-year. In 1529
it is a sort of armoury or store-place for the King's
harness. There are various records of German
armourers working for the King in South wark
about this time. In 1558 Richard Westray, ale
brewer, bequeaths to his wife, Joane, his " messuage
called the Cross Kayes, with the brewhouse, garden,
and stable, as it is now newly builded by his son

20 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Thomas," which apparently he had bought of
Thomas Lovell. The change of title from Cross
Keys to Queen's Head probably took place about
1635-37, when, by the way, the house was fre-
quented by carriers from Portsmouth, Rye, God-
stone, Lamberhurst, and other places. Its owner
for that short time was John Harvard or Harvye,
son of a Southwark butcher carrying on business
in the High Street. He had graduated at
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and in the latter
year sailed for America, where he died in September
1638, leaving by will half his estate, together with
his library of 320 volumes, to a proposed college,
which came into being shortly afterwards, and
is now known as Harvard College, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, of which he is looked upon as
the principal founder. He had inherited the
Queen's Head Inn from his mother, who was
twice married after the death of his father,
Robert Harvard. Her third husband was Richard
Yearwood or Yarwood, Member of Parliament
for Southwark.

The Queen's Head appears to have escaped the
great Southwark fire of 1676, perhaps owing to
the fact that by way of precaution a tenement
was blown up with gunpowder at the gateway.

SOUTHWARK 21

In 1691 it is thus mentioned in that scarce tract
called "The Last Search after Claret in South-
wark, or a Visitation of the Vintners in the
Mint":—

To the Queen's-head we hastened, and found the House ring.
By Broom-men a singing old Simon the King ;
Besides at the bar we perceived a poor Trooper
Was cursing his master and calHng him Cooper.

A writer in 1855 says : " The Queen's Head
has not changed much, the premises are very
spacious — the north part, where the galleries still
remain, is now used by a hop merchant." These
galleries were latterly in part let out as tenements
— the beginning of the end. For many years, from
1848 onwards, the landlord of the inn was Robert
Willsher, a cousin of the famous Kentish bowler
of that name. In 1868 a team of Australian
aboriginal cricketers came over to England, and
made their headquarters here ; one of them nick-
named *' King Cole" died of consumption in Guy's
Hospital. These aborigines must not be confused
with the splendid teams that visit us nowadays.
They were black fellows from the province of
Victoria, trained by C. Laurence, an Englishman.
They played very fairly, and also gave exhibitions
of boomerang throwing, etc. One of them, as we

22 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

seem to remember, formerly held the record for
throwing the cricket ball.

In 1886 the Queen's Head was closed for a time,
when an ugly slate roof was substituted for the
tiled one. It was finally shut up in May 1895,
and on the 27th of that month the writer visited
it, when he found that the whole of the plaster on
the back and front had been removed, and a net-
work of solid oak timbering was exposed to view,
which appeared to be quite sound. He made his
way to the first floor, where there seems to have
been originally a long room, the walls of which
were plastered with unburnt clay mixed with straw
and spread on oak laths. It dated possibly from
the time of Richard Westray, and contained a
carved oak mantelpiece of the early seventeenth
century. The galleried portion of the inn, also of
considerable age, although much dilapidated still
survived in June 1900. The inner, yard where
formerly stood a rather picturesque wooden house,
was then being built over. The portion nearest
to Guy's Hospital is now included within its
boundary. The rest of the property is described as
the " Great Central Railway Queen's Head Depot."
Our views represent the inn as it was in 1883 and
1884. The former illustration shows the cupola

SOUTHWARK 23

of Guy's Hospital at no great distance. Its
founder, Thomas Guy, was a native of Southwark ;
his father, who was a lighterman and coalmonger,
about 1644 resided at Pritchard's Alley, Fair Street,
Horsleydown, where the future philanthropist was
born.

The last of the Southwark inns illustrated by
us is the King's Head, which is one of those
mentioned by Stow, and stood nearer to London
Bridge than any of the others. The back of it
is seen to our right in the view from the inner
yard of the White Hart, the yards of these two
houses being adjacent. The Romans have left
their mark here, as they have done in many parts
of Southwark. In 1879 Mr. R. E. Way found,
during an excavation close to the gateway, frag-
ments of Samian and other pottery, iridescent
oyster shells, portions of sandals, coins of Claudius,
a metal cup, and a straight sword some twenty- six
inches long. These most interesting relics were
at a depth of ten to twelve feet below the surface.

In the fifteenth century Sir John Howard,
already referred to in our account of the Tabard,
seems to have visited most of the Southwark inns.
On November 30, 1496, he paid "for wyne at the
Kynges Hed in Sothewerke iii"^ " ; but it could

24 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

scarcely have been here, because this was one of
the inns changing their names about the time of
the Reformation, or as the result of the altered
conditions which that event produced. It has been
seen how, as late as the seventeenth century, the
Cross Keys secularised its sign, adopting doubtless
the head of Queen Elizabeth. In making this
change the owner or landlord followed an example
set him about a century before at the inn now
in question. Among other ecclesiastics who lodged
in Southwark not the least important was the
Abbot of Waverley, near Farnham, the earliest
house of the Cistercian order in England, founded
in 1128, by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester.
In 1534 the Abbot, still apparently at his town
dwelling near the river, wrote arranging an inter-
view "at the Pope's Head in Southwark." This
was the very year of the separation of the
Church of England from Papal headship. About
eight years afterwards our inn is marked in
a Record Office map as the "Kynges Hed."
In some deeds very kindly lent to the writer
many years ago by Mr. G. Eliot Hodgkin,
F.S.A., the famous collector, whose family for
some generations possessed the property, many
interesting points appear. The first, which is in

SOUTHWARK 25

the curious law Latin of the time, is dated 1559,
and shows John Gresham, who had been Mayor
of London in 1547, and John White, Mayor in
1563, agreeing to pay a certain sum of money to
Thomas Cure, the saddler, M.P. and benefactor
of Southwark, for the inn "formerly known as
the Popes hed, now as le Kynges hed, abutting
on the highway called Longe Southwarke."

In 1588 the property passes to the Humbles, a
well-known Southwark family. In the will, dated
December 1604, of Anthony Fawkes of South-
wark, citizen and clothworker, is the following
clause : — " To my son Richard Fawkes and his
heirs my dwelling house, called the Kynge Heade,
with all the brewing vessels pertaining to the
brewhouse — suffering my now wife, Jane, to dwell
there during her widowhood." Whether this was
the same house is a question, for in 1647 our inn
belonged to Humble, first Lord Ward, ancestor of
the present Earl of Dudley. One of the tenants
at this time was described as " William le pewterer,'*
a proof that, as in the case of most of the larger
inns, there were tenements within the precinct in
which trades were carried on. Provision is made
that the various tenants shall have access to the
pump and other conveniences at all reasonable

26 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

times. Soon afterwards a farthing trade token
was issued from here with the following inscrip-
tion : —

Obverse. — at • the • kings • head • in = Bust of
Henry VIII.

Reverse, — sovthwarke • grocer = W. P.

The King's Head was one of the inns burnt
down in the great fire of 1676. The rent had been
£66 a year ; after that calamity it was settled that
the tenant, Mary Duffield, should build a good
substantial inn with the requisite offices ; in con-
sideration of her doing this, the rent was reduced
from £66 to £38, and the lease extended to forty-
eight years. In 1720 our inn is reported as " well
built, handsome, and enjoying a good trade " ; so
Mary Duffield, forty years before, had done her
work well. The late Mr. John Timbs, in his
Curiosities of London (1875), tells us that within
his recollection the sign was a well-painted half-
length of Henry VIII. Until the year 1879 the
house and yard were still almost intact, but it
was then very much curtailed, a new public-house
being built near the street entrance. Time will
have his way : the last remains of the east side
were pulled down at the beginning of 1885. Our

SOUTHWARK Ti

illustration was done nearly two years earlier, the
house being then occupied by a widow and her
family, who owned among them two hansom
cabs ; and so, from great ecclesiastics and gentle-
men of the olden time, we descend to the humble
hard-working cabman. It may be observed that
the balustrades in the gallery are of peculiar type,
the design being rather Chinese in appearance.
The balustrades of the old Bull and Mouth Inn,
St. Martin's -le- Grand, were somewhat similar.
It seems likely that these were put up after Sir
William Chambers, the architect (not yet knighted),
had studied Chinese buildings and published the
results of his observations. This was in the year
1757, and his book certainly influenced the designs
of the period.

Southwark, besides being famous for its inns,
had other associations of a less cheerful kind. It
was emphatically a place of prisons. In the Bishop
of Winchester's manor or liberty, known as the
Clink, was situated a prison of that name where
not only, as Stow puts it, " such as should babble,
frey, or break the peace," but debtors and those
of all religious denominations who resisted the law
for conscience' sake were " straitly " confined. In
a limited area on the east side of the High Street,

28 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

and therefore close to the inns which we have just
described, were four notable gaols, and afterwards,
partly as substitutes when time had done its decay-
ing work, four more at least. In the olden days
all these gaols might be seen almost at one glance,
the Compter, Marshalsea, King's Bench, and White
Lion ; later and more widely dispersed, the Bride-
well, the New Gaol, the House of Correction, the
second King's Bench, and the second Marshalsea.

East, in the High Street, near St. George's
Church, stood from about 1560 the White Lion
Prison, which was used to confine offenders of all
sorts. In the latter part of the seventeenth century
it became unsafe for the detention of prisoners, but
the old place, presumably patched up, appears to
have been turned into a House of Correction.
Finally, on this site, in 1811, was built the later
Marshalsea, which Dickens immortalises in the
story of Little Dorrit, and of which there are still
slight remains. Approaching through Angel Place
(named after a former Angel Tavern), one sees a
grim wall on the right, with a few barred windows.
Of the rest of the building it is difficult to catch
a glimpse ; perhaps something might be discerned
from a piece of disused burial-ground, now cut off
from St. George's Church by the new road of the

SOUTHWARK 29

London County Council. It may be noted that,
when this road was being made, a number of terra-
cotta architectural fragments came to light, which
in all probability had helped to decorate the splendid
mansion of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who
married Mary, sister of Henry VIII. and widow of
Louis XII. of France, and was grandfather of the
ill-fated Lady Jane Grey. He built this mansion
to the west of the High Street and near St. George's
Church about the year 1516, or a little after, and
here in 1522, when Charles V. visited England, he
received both the King and Emperor, and they
dined and hunted with him. It afterwards passed
into the possession of the King, and became a mint
for coins. In Queen Mary's time it was pulled
down, and under the name of the Mint this pre-
cinct was notorious as a sanctuary for insolvent
debtors, and a place of refuge for lawless persons
of all descriptions, not effectually suppressed until
the reign of George I. It should be added that
the original Marshalsea Prison was some distance
farther north, on the east side of the High Street,
exactly opposite Maypole Alley.

Between the earlier and later Marshalsea was
the King's Bench, of ancient origin, for to this
gaol Henry, Prince of Wales, afterwards Henry

30 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

v., was committed by Judge Gascoigne for striking
or insulting him on the bench. In course of
time it became largely, though not altogether,
a prison for debtors. In May 1653, during the
Commonwealth, when it was called the Upper
Bench Prison, there were 399 prisoners within
the building and the rules, whose united debts
amounted to over £900,000. The rules were certain
— or apparently rather uncertain — boundaries, with-
in which, but outside the prison, privileged debtors
could reside. De Foe remarks of them : " The rules
of the King's Bench are more extensive than those
of the Fleet, having all St. George's Fields to walk
in ; but the Prison House is not near so good " ;
and Shadwell, in his play called Epsom Wells
(1676), makes Bevil say: "But by your leave,
Raines, though marriage be a prison, yet you may
make the rules as those of the King's Bench, that
extend to the East Indies," The chief officer was
called "the Marshal of the Marshalsea of the
King's Bench," and he derived most of his income
from payments by prisoners for the privilege of the
" liberty of the rules." This prison was removed in
1755-1758 to what was then a part of St. George's
Fields, at the junction of Blackman Street with
Newington Causeway, where later the Borough

• SOUTHWARK 31

Road joined those streets. It was burnt in the
Gordon riots, but was soon afterwards rebuilt. By
an Act of William IV. it ceased to be a separate
gaol, the Fleet and Marshalsea being united
with it, and later it was known as the Queen's
Prison. Arrest for debt having been abolished by
an Act of 32 and 33 Viet. c. 62, it was closed for a
time, and was afterwards used as a military prison,
but not being found convenient for this purpose it
was finally destroyed in 1879, the site being now
occupied by workmen's dwellings. It was in the
King's Bench that Dickens's Mr. Micawber is sup-
posed to have dwelt, pending the arrangement of
his financial difficulties ; and in Nicholas Nickleby
the hero visits Madeline Bray, when she is residing
with her father in one of " a row of mean and not
over cleanly houses, situated within the rules."
The passage to the earlier King's Bench Prison
lay a little south of the existing Half Moon Inn,
the painted sign of which appears in Hogarth's
picture of Southwark Fair. A sculptured sign is
still to be seen there having on it the date 1690.
In Rocque's map of 1746 a considerable open
space covered with trees is shown at the back of
the prison. By the end of the century it had
become Layton's Yard. Although much curtailed

32 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

a part of this still exists, being called, with the
passage approaching it, Layton's Buildings. Some
of the houses are old-fashioned, and it still has
rather a rural appearance, as may be seen from our
accompanying illustration.

Near the later King's Bench or Queen's Prison,
in Horsemonger Lane, now Union Road, Newing-
ton Causeway, was another comparatively modern
prison called Horsemonger Lane Gaol. It was
built between 1791 and 1798, as a county gaol
or Surrey, the walls enclosing about three and
a half acres, and Leigh Hunt was confined there
during two years for a libel on the Prince Regent.
During his imprisonment here Keats addressed a
sonnet to him, and he was visited by Lord Byron
and Tom Moore. Outside this gaol public execu-
tions took place, and Dickens, who witnessed the
execution of the Mannings in November 1849, has
left us a painful description of the scene. Most
of this site of untold misery is now occupied by
a pubhc playground, a great boon to the neigh-
bourhood ; but why is it thought necessary to
disfigure the whole area with ugly asphalt pave-
ment ?

Almost if not quite as interesting as the
Borough High Street, although later settled, was

SOUTHWARK 33

that part of Southwark lying along the river to the
west of Winchester House, which is usually called
the Bankside. Its more eastern portion has already
been referred to as the Clink Liberty, and adjoin-
ing it on the west was the Manor or Liberty of
Paris Garden, which is held to correspond with
what in the twelfth century was the hide of land
called Widflete, which Robert Marmion, son of a
follower of William the Conqueror, gave to Ber-
mondsey Priory in 1113. It was originally in the
once large parish of St. Margaret, Southwark, and
now forms the parish of Christchurch, containing
rather less than a hundred acres of land, which
extends back on each side of the present Blackfriars
Road. The river forms the northern limit, with
Blackfriars Bridge a little to the east of its centre ;
to the west is the parish of Lambeth ; the parish
of St. George-the-Martyr being more or less the
southern, and St. Saviour's the eastern boundary.
It was a swampy, low -lying place, and in early
times the land limitations were partly if not wholly
defined by streams or broad ditches, one of which
on the western side had an outlet to the river by
the Broadwall, where there was an ancient embank-
ment, while near the north-east corner the "Pudding
Mill stream" passed close to the site of what is

S4 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

now called Falcon Wharf. This must originally

have connected the old Widflete Mill pond with

the Thames ; but in course of time it degenerated

into a sewer, no longer in existence. All this

land, belonging to the Priory, afterwards the

Abbey, of Bermondsey, was held successively by

the Knights Templars and others, later by the

Knights Hospitallers, but the superior rights of

the Abbey do not appear to have been affected.

Coming into the hands of the Crown shortly before

the Dissolution, it formed part of the dowry of

Jane Seymour. Queen Elizabeth exchanged it

with her cousin, Henry Carey, first Lord Hunsdon,

who in 1580 alienated the copyhold portion of the

manor to trustees and conveyed the lordship and

freehold manor to Thomas Cure, Queen's saddler,

to whom we have referred in our account of the

King's Head Inn, and whose quaint epitaph is still

to be seen in St. Saviour's Church. The name of

the manor seems to have been derived from one

Robert de Paris, who possessed a house there,

which must have become undesirable as a residence,

for close at hand it was by proclamation ordained,

in the sixteenth year of the reign of Richard II.,

that the butchers of London should have a

convenient place for their offal and garbage.

SOUTHWARK 35

in order that the City might not be annoyed
thereby.

To turn to the aspects of the district in the
sixteenth century, Fleetwood, Recorder of London,
in a letter to Lord Burleigh, July 13, 1578, speaks
of it as "dark and much shadowed with trees, that
one man cannot see another unless they have lynceos
oculos or els cattes eys. There be certain virgulta
or eightes of willows set by the Thames near that
place, they grow now exceeding thick and are a
notable covert for confederates to shrowd in" — a
shady place in more senses than one. In the
famous view of London attributed to Agas there
are houses in Paris Garden near the Thames, and
leading to it is a landing stage with boats thereat.
In the roadway from Lambeth, and near these
stairs, a cross is depicted. Standing back is a large
detached building, probably the Manor House.
The rest is open ground — woodland, and pasture,
with numerous ditches. To the east of Paris
Garden, near the Bankside, are amphitheatres
called respectively "TheBolle Bayting" and "The
Beare Bayting," having ponds near them. In a
plan of 1627, due east of the Manor House appears
" The Olde Play House."

The fact that these places of entertainment are

36 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

here shown, reminds one of the theatrical perform-
ances and rough sports, such as bull and bear
baiting, with which the Bankside was so much
associated during many years. These latter, which
even monarchs patronised, were usually said to
take place in Paris Garden, but although probably
such performances occurred there in earlier times,
it is proved that the more or less permanent amphi-
theatres in which animals were baited during the
latter part of the sixteenth and the seventeenth
century were really in the adjoining Clink Liberty,
which pertained, as we have said, to the Bishops of
Winchester, where also, strange to say, the legalised
stew-houses had existed from the time of Henry II.,
with one short interval, until 1546. Stow tells us
that they "had signs on their fronts towards the
Thames, not hanged out, but painted on the walls,
as a Boar s Head, the Cross Keys, the Gun, the
Crane, the Cardinal's Hat, the Bell, the Swan, etc."
A reminiscence of one of them exists in Cardinal
Cap Alley, so named, a narrow passage running
south from the Bankside. In the eighteenth year
of the reign of James I., Taylor "the water-poet,"
then grown old, as a witness in Exchequer deposi-
tions declared that " the game of bear bay ting " had
within his recollection been kept in four several

SOUTHWARK 37

places, all clearly east of Paris Garden. One of
them, the New Bear Garden, otherwise the Hope,
built in 1613, on the plan of a regular theatre, with
movable tressels fit to bear a stage, was also used
for plays, just as the theatres were now and
then used for other performances. Ben Jonson's
Bartholomew Fair was played at the Hope the
year after it was opened. Farley, in 1621, among
other entertainments, speaks of —

A Moms dance, a puppet play,
Mad Tom to sing a roundelay,
A woman dancing on a rope,
Bull baiting also — at the Hope.

During the Commonwealth these bull and bear
rings were suppressed ; but they again came into
fashion, and we know that Pepys and Evelyn both
witnessed the sports there, and each has left a char-
acteristic account of them. There is an advertise-
ment of *'the Hope on the Bankside, being his
Majesty's Bear Garden," as late as the year 1682.

Besides the places of entertainment thus briefly
alluded to, three regular playhouses were also
built in this neighbourhood, because on account
of puritanical leanings the municipal authorities
objected to their establishment within the confines
of the City, and they attracted to the Bankside

38 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

players of the highest rank. The most famous, of
course, is the Globe, first built by Richard Burbage
and his brother in 1599, burnt down in 1613, and
rebuilt immediately afterwards ; the name of which
is known throughout the civilised world from
Shakespeare's intimate connection with it. Here
played the company of which he was a member.
It is a fact which perhaps has not been before
pointed out, that, previous to the year 1603, when
its members were promoted to the rank of King's
players, this company had been under the patron-
age of the first and second Lords Hunsdon, who
were in succession Lords Chamberlain, so that the
connection of the former with this district was a
twofold one. He had, however, parted with the
Manor of Paris Garden long before he became
patron of the company. We may call to mind that
Shakespeare was living " near the Bear Garden " in
1596 — so says his contemporary Edward AUeyn,
who on February 19, 1592, had opened a theatre,
called the Hose, hard by, which is thought to have
been the earliest scene of Shakespeare's successes,
both as actor and dramatist.

Both these playhouses were in the Clink Liberty.
The Paris Garden Theatre was the Swan — the
" Olde Play House " of the 1627 plan. It seems

SOUTHWARK 89

to have been built soon after 1594 by Francis
Langley, Lord of the Freehold Manor of Paris
Garden. We are told of various performances at
this house, among the rest that Ben Jonson here
played the character of Zulziman ; but its chief
interest to modern students of the old theatres
lies in the fact that, in or about the year 1596, a
German visitor named Johannes de Witt wrote a
description of it, accompanied by a spirited sketch
of the interior, which has several times been repro-
duced, the whole having been published at Bremen
in 1888. In the Accounts of the Overseers of the
Poor of Paris Garden from 1608 onwards, printed
for the first time with notes and an introduction by
the writer, the Swan is four or five times referred to
by name. In 1610-11 this playhouse contributed
£4:6:8 for the poor. The last reference, that of
1620-21, shows that the sum of £3 : 19 : 4 was then
received of the Swan players. In a tract of 1632,
where mention is made of the Globe, the Hope, and
the Swan, we are told that the last, " beeing in times
past as famous as any of the others, was now fallen
to decay, and like a dying Swanne, hanging downe
her head, seemed to sing her own dirge." We may
suppose, therefore, that the place had then seen its
best days and was rapidly coming to an end. The

40 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

sites of these old playhouses and bull and bear
rings can be more or less accurately traced.
Barclay's great Anchor Brewery, extending over
thirteen acres, has absorbed the site of the Globe,
and, apart from this great memory, is on its own
account almost classic ground, because at the
Thrales' house attached to it Dr. Johnson spent
much of his happiest time in the congenial society
of them and of their intimates, and at the brewery,
after Mr. Thrale's untimely death, Johnson, when
zealously working as executor at the sale of the
business, gave that characteristic answer to one
who asked its value : " We are not here to sell a
parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of
growing rich beyond the dreams Of avarice."

North-west of the brewery, between the Bank-
side and Park Street, formerly Maid Lane, is
Rose Alley, which marks the site of the theatre
of that name. A little farther west is an alley
called Bear Gardens, near the north end of which
appears to have stood what was known as the
Old Bear Garden, taken down in 1613, while the
site of the Hope or New Bear Garden is near the
south end, where it opens out into a tiny square.
The other two bear-baiting places which Taylor
remembered were both farther west, one of them

SOUTHWARK 41

being at Mason Stairs on the Bankside, and the
second near Maid Lane at the corner of the Pike
Garden, and these appear to correspond with the
rings for " bolle bay ting " and for " beare bay ting "
marked in the ancient plan attributed to Agas.

On the extreme confines of the Clink Liberty,
where it touches Paris Garden, and a short distance
east of the site of the Swan Theatre, an inn called
the Falcon was standing until the first decade of the
nineteenth century, which, if we may accept a not
unlikely tradition, was once the haunt of Shake-
speare and his fellows ; an illustration of it may
be seen in Wilkinson's Londina Illustrata, dated
1805. The site is now occupied by Falcon Wharf
and Dock. Adjoining it on the west is a brick
building in the occupation of the Hydraulic Power
Company. This is now modernised and apparently
of little architectural interest, but after carefully
comparing various plans and views the writer has
come to the conclusion that it is the very house
declared in Concanen and Morgan's history of St.
Saviour's parish (1795) to have been built by Sir
Christopher Wren, for Mr. Jones, master of the
Falcon Iron Foundry, which occupied the space
between this and the river. They add that he
cast the railings for St. Paul's Cathedral. On a

42 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

drawing in the Gardner collection, dated 1789,
which obviously represents this house, is the follow-
ing statement in writing by W. Capon the artist : —
"From a balcony at the top of the house Sir
Christopher used to watch the work at St. Paul's
as it proceeded ; it was his constant custom to do
so in the morning — I was so informed by a very
old gentleman belonging to the foundry." The
railings of St. Paul's are generally said to have
been cast at Lamberhurst, on the borders of Kent
and Sussex, and to be among the last known
specimens of Sussex iron ; but in the original
account books of the building of St. Paul's
Cathedral there is an entry of the payment of over
£11,200 to "Richard Jones, smith, for the Large
Iron Fence round the Church," besides £25 : 18s.
to John Slyford "for carriage, etc., of Mr. Jones's
Irone Worke from the Water side to the Church."
Perhaps the railings were cast at Lamberhurst for
the Falcon Foundry and fitted there.

A short distance south, opening upon that part
of Holland Street which was formerly called Green
Walk, are some rather picturesque almshouses
founded by one Charles Hopton in 1752 for the
benefit of people of reduced circumstances and
good character belonging to the parish of Christ-

SOUTHWARK 43

church. Here, m an iron-bound chest, are preserved
the title-deeds of the copyhold portion of the
Manor of Paris Garden, in which the writer may
perhaps be allowed to take special interest, as his
family has for some generations been connected
with it. The steward has in his keeping an
ebony rod tipped w4th silver, having on it " Edward
Knight, Baylif, 1697," and a later date. This
rod is still used at the surrendering of property,
the steward holding one end, and the surrendering
and the incoming tenant in turn the other. Much
of the property, however, is now enfranchised.

On looking at old plans of the Bankside one is
struck by the number of stairs giving access to
the river, an indication of the fact that in the
time of the theatres and of other more question-
able centres of attraction the paying public was
mostly conveyed thereto by boat. Thus Southwark
watermen were plentiful, and drove a roaring
trade. The man among them best known to
later generations was John Taylor, already several
times referred to, who championed their cause,
and at the same time advertised himself in
amusing, if artless, rhyme. The river being to
him a source of livelihood, he naturally praised
it with his whole heart : —

44 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

But noble Thames, whilst I can hold my pen,
I will divulge thy glory unto men :
Thou in the morning, when my coin is scant.
Before the evening dost supply my want.

His great grievance was the advent of coaches,
which interfered with his business. In a prose
tract, published in 1623, he says : " I do not
inveigh against any coaches that belong to persons
of worth and quality, but only against the cater-
pillar swarm of hirelings. They have undone my
poor trade whereof I am a member ; and though I
look for no reformation, yet I expect the benefit of
an old proverb, ' Give the losers leave to speak.' "
In a pamphlet called An Arrant Thief, he indi-
cates the approximate date of the introduction of
these vehicles which so raised his ire : —

W^hen Queen Elizabeth came to the crown,
A coach in England then was scarcely known ;
Then 'twas as rare to see one as to spy
A tradesman that had never told a lie.

In spite of Taylor's gloomy forebodings, the river
almost throughout the seventeenth century must
have been in its glory as a thoroughfare.

Before quitting the subject of Southwark water-
men, the writer is tempted to transcribe the follow-
ing epitaph which is engraved on a large slab now

SOUTHWARK 45

placed upright against the east wall of the Lady
Chapel of St. Saviour's, having been dug up from
under the floor during the restoration of 1832 : —
"Nicholas Norman, Waterman, late Servante to
the King's Maiestie, and Elizabeth his wife, were
here buryed, hee the 25 of May, 1629, and shee
the 15 of Januarye folio weinge, who lived 16 years
together in the holie state of matrimonie, and do
here rest in hope of a ioyfull resurrection."

Whole districts of South wark must, in this
volume at least, remain unchronicled — Bermondsey,
for instance — the seat of the great Cluniac Abbey
of St. Saviour, and Horsleydown, portrayed in a
famous picture by Joris Hoefnagel, now belonging
to the Marquis of Salisbury. Something can still
be found there that is of interest alike to the artist
and the antiquary, but more attractive subjects
call us to the opposite side of the river. As, full
of thoughts about the old South wark theatres, we
pass the great church now called St. Saviours,
a splendid relic of the Augustinian Priory of
St. Mary Overy, we may call to mind that the
friends and fellow - dramatists, Beaumont and
Fletcher, dwelt together on the Bankside near the
Globe, and that the latter, having died of the
plague, was buried in St. Saviour's ; that Philip

46 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Massinger, also Fletcher's intimate, lived and
died near the same place, and was buried as a
"stranger," that is a non- parishioner, in the St.
Saviour's burial-ground, which was called the Bull
Head Churchyard ; and that Shakespeare's brother
Edmond, "a player," was buried in St. Saviour's
Church on December 31, 1607, "with a forenoone
knell of the great bell."

CHAPTER II

THE CITY AND EAST END

Oh ! London won't be London long.

For 'twill be all pulled down.
And I shall sing- a funeral song

O'er that time-honoured town.

W. Maginn.

Our way now lies over London Bridge, and while
crossing the river into the City the opportunity
should not be lost of glancing at a few of Wren's
beautiful steeples, one of the finest being here the
most conspicuous, namely, that of St. Magnus
which, be it remembered, stood more or less in a
line with old London Bridge. The pathway for
foot-passengers which formed part of the road
leading straight to the bridge passed through the
existing open passage under the tower.

What we now call the City once comprised the
whole of London, and it is a remarkable, fact that
the site of the Roman walls, of which traces still

48 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

exist, continue to this day to be the limitations of
what is, strictly speaking, the City, though districts
" without " the walls have from time to time been
added. The Great Fire of London swept away
five -sixths of the older City, and time and the
jerry -builder have almost completed the removal
of the rest. But the Fire occurred many genera-
tions ago, and the structures erected within fifty
years of that event have now a respectable anti-
quity. The three kinds of building to which,
perhaps, the student of old London would first
direct his steps in the City are the churches dating
from before the Great Fire, St. Paul's Cathedral
and the parish churches designed by Sir Christopher
Wren, and thirdly, the Guildhall, together with
some twenty halls of the City Companies, the rest
of these being modern. Externally the Guildhall
shows few traces of antiquity, but the interior of
the fifteenth -century porch has considerable merit,
and the large crypt is a remarkably interesting
specimen of mediaeval architecture. With the
exception, however, of some of Wren's churches
destroyed within the last few years, and of others
which, we fear, are in danger of destruction,
these buildings fortunately do not come under
the title of "vanished" or "vanishing." Thus it

THE CITY AND EAST END 49

happens that the writer has turned his attention
most to the study of old houses which, on account
of their picturesqueness, sometimes of their historic
interest, appeared worthy of record. He has, how-
ever, included views of churches, and of other
relics, ranging from a piece of the Roman wall to
buildings as late as the eighteenth century, which
have been destroyed within the last few years.

In the early days of English history Royalty
itself and powerful nobles had dwellings in or
near the City, and various place-names still sur-
viving attest the fact. By Charles II.'s time,
however, most of the great people had moved
west, leaving the business part of the town to the
merchants and traders, from whose ranks so many
of the present aristocracy may trace their origin.
Of the appearance of London before the Great
Fire we can form a very good idea from views and
descriptions, and from the few houses which until
lately have survived. As a rule, they had their
gables towards the street, and were of timber or
half-timbered construction, many of the fronts
being beautifully carved or decorated with fine
plaster work. Stow records the existence of stone
houses, but as if it were something uncommon.
Doubtless brickwork was also used as a building^

50 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

material ; Lincoln's Inn gateway, still happily in
good condition in spite of reports to the contrary,
dates from the year 1518, and, outside the area
with which we are now dealing, the gateways of
St. James's Palace and Lambeth Palace are also
early examples of brickwork. After the Great
Fire, brick became the almost exclusive building
material for houses ; and that eminently practical
genius. Wren, while building St. Paul's and his
great series of City churches, although not allowed
to carry out his scheme for reconstructing the
streets, also clearly set the fashion in domestic
architecture. He was in truth the father of the
style now called by the name of Queen Anne,
though it began before her reign and, with gradual
modifications, continued long afterwards. Most
of the City houses to which reference will here
be made are more or less in that style, but there
are a few examples of earlier work.

In the home of the city merchant, as rebuilt
after the Fire, there was no attempt to vie with
the sumptuous palaces which rose in the land
during the early days of the Renaissance, but it
had the supreme merit of being thoroughly suit-
able for its purpose. Outside there was little dis-
play, though cut brick, a charming material, often

THE CITY AND EAST END 51

helped the effect. The chief ornament was con-
centrated on that part which would be most seen,
namely the doorway. Within, the offices were as
a rule on the ground floor. A well-proportioned
staircase, with turned and often twisted balusters,
led to the chief reception rooms, and here the
architect, or builder, worked with a loving care —
the mantelpiece, the panelling, the cornice, the
mahogany doors, the carved architraves and over-
doors were each in its way beautiful, and each
formed part of a harmonious whole. We will now
try to introduce to our readers a few of the older
City mansions, and incidentally we will tell some-
thing about those who dwelt in them. On con-
sideration we find that the subject does not entirely
lend itself to any rigid arrangement ; the reader
will therefore perhaps pardon us if, both as regards
time and place, we group our facts together in
the way that most easily suggests itself, without
attempting to be quite methodical.

On the west side of Bishopsgate Street With-
out, some years ago, the Great Eastern Railway
Company cleared away a space nearly a quarter
of a mile in length which involved the removal, at
the end of 1890, of what remained of Sir Paul
Pindar's house, a beautiful work of art, and a

52 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

unique fragment of a great merchant's residence at
the beginning of the seventeenth century. The oak
front, with its matchless carved work, is now to
be seen in the South Kensington Museum. The
finely decorated plaster ceiling from a room on the
first floor was at the same time removed to South
Kensington, where there is another fine ceiling
said to be similar in style, which was acquired
some thirteen years previously, when the house
next to Sir Paul Pindar's, on the left side of our
illustration, was taken down. The room which
contained the ceiling first mentioned was also
decorated with good oak panelling, and originally
with a grotesque but handsome chimney-piece,
having on it the date 1600, removed early in the
nineteenth century, when the room was made
what the occupants called "a little comfortable."
Doubtless the original mansion included the adjoin-
ing house and a good deal more besides. There
must have been gardens at the back, and a build-
ing decorated with plaster work, usually called
"the Lodge," which once stood in Half Moon
Street, was said by tradition to have been occupied
by the gardener.

Sir Paul Pindar was not only a merchant but
a diplomatist. His early manhood was spent in

ff or THE

\^ OF

THE CITY AND EAST END 53

Italy. He afterwards held a post at Aleppo, and
in 1811, on the recommendation of the Turkey
Company, was sent by James I. as ambassador to
Constantinople, where he resided, with intervals
spent in England, for nine years. Pindar brought
from the east some wonderful jewels; a diamond
belonging to him, valued in 1824 at £35,000, was
lent to James I. to wear on state occasions, and
was afterwards bought by Charles I. for a smaller
sum, payment being deferred. He advanced
enormous sums to that monarch and others, in
consequence, after his death, which occurred on
August 22, 1650, his affairs were found to be so
much entangled that his executor and cashier,
William Toomes, after vainly trying to unravel them
committed suicide. Sir Paul was a parishioner of
St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, and presented com-
munion plate to that church, which has been either
sold or melted. In St. Botolph's account books
are entries recording various gifts of venison by
him on the occasion of feasts, which did not,
however, save him from being fined for eating
meat on fish days by the ungrateful parish author-
ities. He was buried in St. Botolph's Church, and
his monument there, which used to be on the
north side of the chancel but is now relegated

54 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

to some obscure corner, describes him as " faithful
in negotiations foreign and domestick ; eminent for
piety, charity, loyalty, and prudence ; an inhabitant
26 years, and a bountiful benefactor to this parish."
Some distance north of the site of Sir Paul
Pindar's house, on the opposite side of the way,
there was, not very long ago, a group of four houses,
numbered 81 to 85 Bishopsgate Street Without,
which, although vulgarised and defaced, were
evidently very old. They resembled each other
more or less, and No. 82 still remains. It is of
wood, the gabled top story standing slightly back,
and having a door in front which opens on to a
kind of gallery, formed by the space thus gained
and by a projecting cornice. The Rev. Thomas
Hugo, who examined the houses in Bishopsgate
Street over forty years ago, was told that within
the memory of man the date 1590 had been
visible on one of the group. Their wooden fronts,
however, have markings in imitation of stone-
work, called technically wooden rustications, which
seem to suggest a later date. Similar work was
to be seen on the wooden houses in Fore Street
at the entrance to St. Giles, Cripplegate, which
with the tower of that church have given us a
picturesque subject for an illustration. Beneath

THE CITY AND EAST END 55

one of these houses is shown the old entrance
to the churchyard, the stones of which are at
present lying on the ground, but will, it is said,
be re-erected. The spandrels of the round-headed
arch are, or were, filled in with carvings of an hour-
glass, a scythe, a death's head, and other emblems
of mortality. Above were the names of the
churchwardens at the time of its erection, and the
date 1660. This gate was built in the previous
year out of the fines received for the renewal
of the leases of the parish property. The four
wooden shops, with their projecting windows, were
rather older, being finished in 1656. They were
built by the same authorities on a strip of the
burial ground from a similar fund, the rents to be
applied to charitable purposes in the parish. Next
to these shops was the *' Quest House," a small
part of which is shown near the left side of our
drawing. Here the " Inquest Jury " used to sit.
This was a body of men whose chief duties were
to look after the internal affairs of the Ward.
They were elected on St. Thomas's Day in the
same manner as the Common Councilmen, their
numbers varying from sixteen to twenty. This
jury, after gradually losing most of its powers, was
abolished about the year 1857. The curious plate

56 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

belonging to it passed soon afterwards into the
hands of the vestry, which in later years held its
meetings here. The actual building, of brick
stuccoed, with " Gothic " windows and doorways,
was no older than the year 1811. There had,
however, been a previous Quest House on the
same site, thought by Mr. Malcolm to have been
''nearly as ancient as Edward the Sixth's time."
Like its successor, it was built against part of the
north side of the church, blocking out the light.
In 1900 the leases of the four shops ran out,
and the City Corporation having purchased the
property, both shops and Quest House were shortly
afterwards destroyed. Thus one of the quaintest
views in old London ceased to be.

The Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, is believed
to have been founded as early as the end of the
eleventh century, to supply the needs of those
who had lately settled in the then new suburb just
without the city wall, a bastion of which is still
to be seen in the disused burial ground at the back.
The church was rebuilt late in the fourteenth
century, again to a great extent after a fire in
1545, and in the Cripplegate fire of November
1897 it had a very narrow escape, several holes
being burnt in the roof. The destruction of the

THE CITY AND EAST END 67

Quest House exposed to view a staircase-turret, a
doorway, and various north windows of the church
in a dilapidated condition ; they have now been
" restored." The upper part of the tower, as shown
in our illustration, was built of brick in 1683-84,
and surmounted by a cupola. With no pretence of
being Gothic, it has, to the writer's eyes at least,
a very picturesque effect ; a proposal made in
1890-91 to rebuild it in Kentish ragstone was
fortunately frustrated. This tower contains a fine
peal of twelve bells ; a chiming machine con-
nected with them is said to have been made in
1795 by George Harman of High Wycombe, whose
regular trade was that of a cooper. Six of the
bells have rhyming inscriptions, of which the
following is a fair example : —

Ye ringers all that prize your health and happiness.
Be sober, merry, wise, and you'll the same possess.

The church contains many interesting monu-
ments, none of very great antiquity ; the oldest
being that to Thomas Busby, a benefactor of the
parish, who died in 1575. Among them is a touch-
ing epitaph to Margaret Lucy, who died in 1634, a
descendant of Shakespeare's Sir Thomas Lucy of
Charlecote. John Foxe, the martyrologist, some-

58 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

time vicar of this parish, and John Speed, carto-
grapher and historian, are also here commemorated.
John Milton and his father were buried in the same
grave " in the upper end of the chancel at the right
hand." Its place is indicated by a stone thus in-
scribed : — " Near this spot was buried John Milton,
author of Paradise Lost Born 1608, died 1674."
The grave was disturbed in 1790. Shortly after-
wards Samuel Whitbread, the brewer, put up a
bust and tablet to Milton's memory, the work of
the elder Bacon. In 1862 these were placed on a
lofty monument which was then erected in the
south aisle to the west of the monument of Speed.
Oliver Cromwell was married in this church to
Elizabeth Bourchier, August 22, 1620. The
registers also contain entries relating to the
Egertons, Earls of Bridgewater, the site of whose
house is marked by Bridgewater Square, which is
in this parish. It was before the head of this
family at Ludlow Castle, his official residence as
President of the Council of Wales, that Milton's
masque of Comus was performed in 1634, Lawes
being composer of the music. A statue of the
poet was placed in November on a conspicuous site
near the church, the ground having been bought
back from the City Corporation.

THE CITY AND EAST END 59

We will now retrace our steps to the district
through which Bishopsgate Street passes, where,
from the fact that the Great Fire did not in this
direction extend so far north, many picturesque
houses long lingered. Among the rest, fifty years
ago, like the Borough High Street, it was lined
with quaint old inns, of which the Bull, the Four
Swans, and the Green Dragon were the most con-
spicuous. The remains of a mansion far older and
more famous than that of Sir Paul Pindar are
close to this street on the east side, being part
of Crosby Place, built by Sir John Crosby, who
obtained from the adjoining convent of St. Helen a
lease of the ground in 1466. The portions remain-
ing are the great hall, with a fine open timber roof
and a beautiful oriel window, a room on the ground
floor now called the "throne room," and a "with-
drawing "or " council room " above, having a richly-
carved ceiling. There are also considerable brick
cellars. These valuable relics are in no danger of
destruction ; they have been drawn repeatedly, and
are so smartened up to meet the requirements of the
purpose to which they are now put, namely, that
of a modern restaurant, that they do not at present
lend themselves readily to illustration. Here,
however, we may comfortably refresh the inner

60 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

man after a pilgrimage among the time-honoured
shrines in the neighbourhood, and while doing so
we may conjure up past scenes before our mental
vision. The history of the place is of unique
interest. Sir John Crosby, a famous citizen, served
the office of Sheriff in 1470, and early in the follow-
ing year, when the bastard Falconbridge assaulted
the city, he distinguished himself by his valour in
helping to repel the attack. When Edward IV.
returned to London, in May 1471, Crosby accom-
panied the Mayor and other prominent men who
met the King between Shoreditch and Islington,
and here he received the honour of knighthood.
In the two following years he was employed by
Edward in confidential missions, but did not long
survive to enjoy his prosperity and his sumptuous
mansion. Dying in 1475, he was buried in the
neighbouring church of St. Helen, where between
the chancel and the chapel of the Holy Ghost is
an altar tomb, having on it fine recumbent figures
of him and of Agnes, his first wife. Round his
neck is a collar decorated with roses and suns
alternating — the latter a badge used by Edward
IV. after the victory of Mortimer's Cross, when a
parhelion or mock sun made its appearance.

In 1483 Crosby Place was occupied by

THE CITY AND EAST END 61

Richard III. when Protector, probably as a tenant
of Crosby's executors, and it is twice mentioned in
Shakespeare's Play of Richard III, Shakespeare
himself may have lived close by in 1598, shifting
his quarters from the neighbourhood of the Bank-
side ; at least some one of his name was a resident
in St. Helen's parish, being assessed by the col-
lectors of a subsidy, in the sum of 13s. 4d., upon
goods valued at £5, but it is not certain that this
was the dramatist. Among inmates of the house,
Sir Thomas More was there as owner about
1518 ; he afterwards sold the property to his friend
Antonio Bonvici or Bonvisi, merchant of Lucca,
who at one time leased it to the husband of
Margaret Roper, More's favourite daughter. In
1566 the mansion was bought by Alderman William
Bond, a famous " merchant adventurer," who added
to it a lofty turret. About this time, and later,
foreign ambassadors were occasionally lodged here ;
and here, in 1594, Sir John Spencer, a man of
great wealth, kept his mayoralty, having bought
the property, made great reparation, and added " a
most large warehouse to the east." He also bought
Canonbury Place, Islington, once the manorial
house of the prior and convent of St. Bartholomew
in Smithfield, and probably built the tower of it,

62 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

which is still standing. Like Crosby and Bond,
he was buried in St. Helen's Church, where, against
the wall to the west of the south porch, his splendid
monument is now placed. It has recumbent figures
of Sir John and his wife, and at their feet is the
figure of their daughter kneeling. She married
Lord Compton, later first Earl of Northampton,
having, as the story goes, eloped from Canonbury
by his contrivance in a baker's basket. That she
was quite able to hold her own is proved by a
letter, still extant, which was written by her, some
years after Sir John's death, to her ''Lord and
Master." She therein tells him what she personally
needed in the way of money, beginning with £1600
a year paid quarterly, £600 a year for charity,
£8000 for jewels, in addition to £6000, and there
is a further list of many costly requirements.

Besides those mentioned above, various other
distinguished people have been associated with
Crosby Place, the southern part of which is said
to have been injured by the Great Fire, and was
almost destroyed by another six years afterwards,
the hall, however, luckily escaping. It was after
this that the present Crosby Square came into
existence. The subsequent vicissitudes of the hall
are well known, and the successful efforts made

THE CITY AND EAST END 63

between 1831 and 1836 to preserve it. In the
latter year it was re -opened ; the present front
facing Bishopsgate Street forms no part of the
original building. Before quitting the subject it
may be remarked that Crosby Place must have
stood on the site of a Roman villa, for here two
lloman tesselated pavements were found in 1871
and 1873. The house, with its offices and gardens,
covered a good deal of ground.

To what extent Crosby Place was damaged
by the successive fires of the latter half of the
seventeenth century is not exactly known, but
it is an interesting fact that at No. 25 Bishops-
gate Street Within, a few yards south of the
entrance leading to Crosby Square, a house of
earlier date was standing until 1892-93 which had
been known for years as Crosby Hall Chambers.
The front towards the street had no marks of
antiquity except two festoons of flowers, much
blocked up by paint, between the first floor
windows. The north side appeared to be externally
more or less in its original state. Its base was
composed of rustic work, the wall being relieved
by pilasters. There was also a room on the first
floor looking out on this passage, whieh had a
fragment of decorative plaster work, and a beautiful

64 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

carved chimney-piece, dated 1633, of which a
cast is now at the South Kensington Museum.
The original is incorporated in the building now
occupying the site of Crosby Hall Chambers. In
the spring of 1899 the demolition of a house in
Bishopsgate Street immediately to the south of
the modern frontage of Crosby Hall, displayed to
view two Gothic arches, which the writer did not
have an opportunity of inspecting. Reference to
them may be found in Notes and Queries for May
13 and for June 3 of that year ; they were probably
connected with the crypt of the great mansion.

In Crosby Square, on the south side, two or
three handsome old houses remain. One of them has
been recased with brick, but has retained its carved
doorway. Another has a fine staircase, but its chief
distinction is a charming garden at the back, with
its fig-trees, its thorns, and pretty fountain — a
veritable oasis in this wilderness of bricks and
mortar. Fortunately it is in the hands of those
who appreciate it ; may it long be a source of
pleasure and refreshment to them. Dr. Nathan
Adler, chief rabbi, lived here for some years, from
1847 onwards : the garden and basin are marked
distinctly in Strype's map of 1720.

From Crosby Square a passage leads to Great

THE CITY AND EAST END 65

St. Helen's, which some years ago was remarkably
picturesque. At a corner, opposite the pretty
south porch of the church, by some attributed to
Inigo Jones, which has on it the date 1633, stood
a quaint old house constructed of wood and plaster,
with projecting upper stories and massive timber-
ing, which had been in existence long before the
Great Fire, and at the time of our sketch was
probably, except Crosby Hall, the oldest domestic
building in the City ; the inside, however, had
been modernised. Tradition boldly asserts that
Anne Boleyn's father. Sir Thomas, afterwards
Viscount Rochford and Earl of Wiltshire, lived
here. It is an undoubted fact that a kinsman
of his name was intimately associated with St.
Helen's, for "on the 24th of December, 26
Henry VIII., 1534, the Prioress and Convent
appointed Sir William Bolleyne, Knt., to be
steward of their lands and tenements in London
and elsewhere, the duties to be performed either
by himself or a sufficient deputy during the life
of the said James, at a stipend of forty shillings
a year payable at Christmas. If in arrear for six
weeks the said James might enter and distrain."
This was most likely Sir Thomas Boleyn's elder
brother. The house, No. 10, had been much

66 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

shaken by the removal of Nos. 8 and 9 adjoining.
It was propped up for some time, and destroyed
in the course of 1894.

The house alluded to in the last paragraph, and
known latterly as Nos. 8 and 9 Great St. Helen's,
although less ancient than No. 10, deserves some-
thing more than a passing allusion. It is on the
south side of that part of Great St. Helen's which
faces the church and churchyard, both Great St.
Helen's and St. Helen's Place having been once in-
cluded in the precinct of the Convent of St. Helen.
A parish church existed here before the founda-
tion of the Priory in the early thirteenth century.
When that event took place, a nun's choir was
built alongside of the existing nave. The whole
church happily escaped the Great Fire, and although
of late years it has been terribly over-restored, it
is still full of interest and crowded with ancient
monuments. To return to Nos. 8 and 9. This
mansion, latterly divided into two, and destroyed
in the early part of 1892, was of brick, having
engaged pilasters, which were furnished with stone
bases and capitals. They also had bands, on two
of which appeared in relief the initials ^^, and the
date 1646. The projecting sills or cornices and
the deep keystones on the first-floor windows gave

[dt; FORNAX

THE CITY AND EAST END 67

a striking appearance to the fabric. It was also
memorable as an early specimen of brickwork in
London, and as dating from a period before the
formal conclusion of the Civil War, when building
operations were almost at a standstill. No. 9 had
in a room on the first floor a wooden seventeenth-
century mantelpiece, behind which, on its removal,
were found traces of an older mantelpiece of
marble, and evidence of the former existence of a
large open fireplace. The beautiful staircase, or
portion of a staircase, might from its style have
been Elizabethan. A blocked -up window, with
wooden transoms for casements, was also dis-
covered ; so it seems likely that some years after
the date of the original building considerable altera-
tions took place. The facade has been attributed
to Inigo Jones, but it had not his classic symmetry,
and looked like the work of a less instructed local
artist. Besides, Inigo Jones, a Royalist and a
Roman Catholic, was taken prisoner in October
1645 at the storming of Basing House, having
been there during the siege, which had lasted since
August 1643. He was apparently not free to
return to his profession until July 2, 1646, when,
after payment of a heavy fine, his estate, which had
been sequestrated, was restored to him, and he

68 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

received pardon by an ordinance of the House of
Commons. It is hard to believe that w^hilst he
was passing through such a crisis, or in the few-
months succeeding it, he would have been super-
intending a work in the Puritan City. At the
time of his release the great architect was seventy-
four years of age, and as far as we know he hardly
practised his profession afterwards. The division
of Nos. 8 and 9 Great St. Helen's took place in
the course of the last century, probably about
1750, to judge from the style of the fanlights and
projecting hoods to the front doors, and from the
staircase of No. 8, the upper portion of which,
however, was much more archaic, and might have
served as part of the back staircase to the original
building. We have not been able to give a coloured
illustration of this house, but there is an archi-
tectural drawing of it in our book on London
signs and inscriptions.

The initials have generally been considered
to refer to Sir John Lawrence and his wife,
but they were really those of his uncle and
aunt, Adam and Judith Lawrence, who were
members of the Dutch congregation of Austin
Friars. From Adam, Sir John inherited this
house with other property in 1657, the year

THE CITY AND EAST END 69

that he was elected alderman of Queenhithe
Ward. He shortly afterwards served the office
of Sheriff, and on June 16, 1660, he was knighted
by Charles II. when that monarch, accompanied
by his brothers, the Dukes of York and Gloucester,
and some of the nobility, were entertained at supper
by the Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas AUeyne. In
1664 he was elected Lord Mayor, and Evelyn
speaks of a " most magnificent triumph by water
and land " on that occasion. Evelyn also attended
the Lord Mayor's banquet, when he dined at the
upper table with various great personages, and
*' the cheer was not to be imagined for the plenty
and rarity, with an infinite number of persons at
the table in that ample hall." Sir John behaved
very well during the time of the Great Plague.
He " enforced the wisest regulations then known,"
and freely expended his private fortune in support
of those who were ill and impoverished until sub-
scriptions from elsewhere could be obtained. Dr.
Erasmus Darwin, in his Loves of the Plants, devotes
a few lines to " London's generous Mayor."

In 1662 apparently Lawrence had built a new
house for himself also in Great St. Helen's, in
which he kept his mayoralty ; an illustration of
it appeared in 1796, forming the frontispiece to

70 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

vol. xxix. of the European Magazine, That
undoubted residence of his is marked by name in
the map of Bishopsgate Street Ward accompanying
Strype's edition of Stow's Survey, where a slight
sketch of it is given. The Jewish synagogue is
rather west of the site. It is curious that the
initials on Nos. 8 and 9 Great St. Helen s besides
suiting the uncle Adam and his wife were also
applicable to Sir John and Lady Lawrence, whose
Christian name was Abigail. There is a monument
to this latter lady in St. Helen's Church, where it
is recorded that she was " the tender mother of ten
children. The nine first, being all daughters, she
suckled at her own breasts ; they all lived to be of
age. Her last, a son, died an infant. She lived
a married wife 39 years, 23 whereof she was an
exemplary matron of this Cittie, dying in the 59th
year of her age." As she died in 1681, it would
appear that she and her husband came to reside in
the parish after Adam's death. In St. Helen's
Church is a carved wooden stand for the reception
of the Lord Mayor's sword on the occasion of his
ceremonial visits there. This has on it the arms
of Lawrence, namely argent, a cross raguly gules,
a canton ermine, and is the oldest sword-stand in
the City. Faulkner in his History of Chelsea, and

THE CITY AND EAST END 71

tlie Rev. J. E. Cax, D.D., in his Annals of St,
Helens, deceived no doubt by the fact that their
arms were identical, have assumed that Sir John
Lawrence belonged to the Lawrences who acquired
the Manor House at Chelsea about the year 1590,
and with it, in all likelihood, the north chapel in
the old parish church, which is still called after
them but was built long before their time, perhaps
towards the beginning of the fourteenth century.
The Lord Mayor, as we have implied, was of
Dutch or Flemish ancestry. The name had been
spelt in various ways, as Laurens, Laureijns,
Laurents, etc., until, when its possessors became
thoroughly anglicised, it took the English form.

About the year 1860 almost all the houses in
Great St. Helen's were of considerable age, but
little that is of interest now remains. On the south
side No. 2 has a pretty doorway, which appears to
date from the early part of the eighteenth century,
and there is another (No. 7) with a Georgian stair-
case. There was a right-of-way through here for
the public from very early times ; for Dugdale
tells us that in the Hundred Roll of the third year
of Edward I. several entries occur relating to an
attempt which the nuns made to stop up the lane
or passage through the court of their priory from

72 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Bishopsgate Street to St. Mary Axe. The view
which is here given represents the entrance to
Bishopsgate Street from Great St. Helen's in 1890.
On the left is a modern portion of Crosby Hall,
and over the passage were gabled houses older than
the time of the Great Fire. The structure on
spectator's right, although unpretentious, had an air
of quaintness, with its iron railings and broad white
window frames shining in the sun. The inscrip-
tion on a tablet above the door of this building ran
as follows: — "These alms-houses were founded
by Sir Andrew Judd, Kt., Citizen and Skinner, and
Lord Mayor of London, Anno Dom. 1551. For
six poor men of y^ said Company. Rebuilt by y^
said Company Anno Dom. 1729." The original
almshouses are supposed to have been further
east.

Sir Andrew Judd was a native of Tunbridge
in Kent, and made a large fortune as a merchant,
chiefly, it is said, by dealing in furs. He kept his
mayoralty in a " fair house " in Bishopsgate Street,
which had been before used for a similar purpose
by another great city magnate. Sir William Holies.
It seems to be shown by her will, that in building the
almshouses Sir Andrew Judd only acted as executor
to his cousin Elizabeth, widow of Sir William.

THE CITY AND EAST END 73

Stow, however, does not mention her name in
connection with the charity, which was augmented
by Judd's daughter, Alice Smyth, of Westenhanger,
Kent. Sir Andrew also founded and endowed Tun-
bridge Grammar School. Like most of the other
worthies we have mentioned in connection with
this precinct, he was buried in St. Helen's Church.
A quaint Elizabethan monument marks his resting-
place. The epitaph gives quite a little biography
of him, which contains what a transatlantic cousin
thought to be the essential poetic elements, for it
" states all the facts and rhymes occasionally."

Judd's almshouses in Great St. Helen's were
destroyed about 1892, a scheme having been
matured by the Skinners' Company for amalgamat-
ing the funds with those of other almshouses
administered by them, which stood on the north
side of the Mile End Road. We shall here take
the opportunity of saying a few words about the
Skinners' almshouses, a view of a portion of them
being given in this book. Over the gate were the
arms of the Skinners' Company and two statuettes
of cripples. There were also two inscriptions, one
setting forth that the almshouses were founded in
1688 during the mastership of Benjamin Alexander.
The other ran thus : —

74 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

The Gift of Mr. Lewis Newbury,

Built by

Thomas Glover, Esq.,

his Executor, committed

to the management of the

Company of Skinners,

London.

The narrow frontage of these almshouses towards
the road did not prepare one for the picturesque
scene within. The houses, twelve in number, were
for poor widows. There was a chapel and a garden at
the farther end from which our drawing was taken.
In 1892 the Skinners' Company invited tenders for
the purchase of the property, and about two years
afterwards these old buildings werie swept away.
Almshouses have been built outside London from
the funds of this and of the Judd foundation.

Next to the site of the Skinners' almshouses on
the east, is the famous Trinity Hospital, held to have
been designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and saved
from imminent destruction now some years ago,
while further east are the Vintners' almshouses,
originally founded in the Vintry Ward in 1357,
moved to Mile End in 1676, and rebuilt in the
early part of the nineteenth century with in-
creased benefits, under the will of Benjamin Kenton,

THE CITY AND EAST END 75

Citizen and Vintner, whose house is yet standing in
the Minories. There were formerly several other
almshouses in this once rural neighbourhood,
where, as Gerard tells us in his Herbal, penny-
royal once grew in great abundance, and whither
Londoners used to wend their way on festive
occasions for the sake of fresh air and for cakes
and ale. The Drapers' almshouses of the John
Pemel foundation disappeared long ago, and those
founded by Bancroft have given place to the
"People's Palace," the outcome in some sense of
Walter Besant's ideas of social philanthropy as
set forth in All Sorts and Conditions of Men,

Standing by the Skinners' Almshouse, and look-
ing west towards the Whitechapel Road, one would
formerly have seen a little timber-built tavern
with tiled roof called the Vine, which had here
boldly thrust itself on to the open space between
the wide pavement and the wider road. So
picturesque was its appearance that two views of
it are here given. The first, done many years ago,
represents it from the west, in the early morning
of May 14, 1887, the day when her late Majesty
Queen Victoria, accompanied by Princess Beatrice
and Prince Henry of Battenberg, drove in an
open carriage from Paddington to Mile End, and

76 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

opened in person the great Central Hall of the
People's Palace. The streets were gaily decorated
for the occasion, and it will be seen that the
proprietor of the Vine Tavern invested in bunting
to an extent that marked him out as a thoroughly
loyal subject. At the time represented in the
painting, the road, soon to be thronged with a
joyous crowd, was still empty, save for the presence
of here and there a straggler, who seemed in no
hurry for work or play, but as if anxious to begin
at once with some slight liquid refreshment. On
spectator's right the entrance to the Skinners'
Almshouses is visible. In the early autumn of
1903 it became known that the old house had been
condemned by the Borough Council of Stepney.
Our second illustration was the result of a couple
of afternoon visits, when the work of demolition
was already begun. As the hour of sunset
approached, we were struck by the crowd of foot
passengers, male and female, who, business for the
day being finished, were wending their way east-
ward from Whitechapel.

The site of the " Vine " remains vacant, and is
not likely to be again built upon. Although dear
to the artist, it was a humble shanty, and efforts
to find out something of interest connected with

OF THE

UENIIVEB^ITY

THE CITY AND EAST END 77

it have been rather unsuccessful. From its appear-
ance it must have been at least as old as the earlier
half of the eighteenth century, perhaps much older,
and it was built on the waste ground at Mile End
which has been absorbed into the thoroughfare,
thus long ago extended to an abnormal width.
The former waste land at Mile End must not be
confounded with Mile End (now Stepney) Green.
The Vine Tavern stood in front of some houses
named in a map of 1799, "Five Constable Row,"
and is thereon distinctly marked. It was in the
Mile End Road, which is a continuation east of the
Whitechapel Road ; Dog Row (now Cambridge
Road) from the north joins and also divides them.
This junction takes place a short distance west
of the tavern site ; and here stood the old turn-
pike, shown in more than one engraving, and
abolished about the year 1866.

Those who wend their way along the White-
chapel Road towards the city will not find much that
is of interest artistically, so far at least as the build-
ings are concerned, until they approach Aldgate.
One is struck by two things, the prevalence of the
Jewish element, and the fact that there is little
or no sign of the destitution which we are apt
to associate with this part of London. On the

78 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

contrary, the district looks prosperous, and Mr.
Charles Booth's ** Descriptive Map of East End
Poverty," compiled in 1887, appears to bear this
out, all the houses on each side of the road being
shown as occupied by those who are well-to-do,
although here and there a very short walk to north
or south would take us to scenes of extreme
poverty.

Aldgate High Street and Whitechapel, being
on the highroad to Essex, had in former years,
like other main thoroughfares out of London,
several famous inns ; among others the Three
Nuns, the Crown, the Blue Boar, and the Black
Bull. Of these the Three Nuns is mentioned by
De Foe in his Journal of the Plague Year, and
was an important coaching inn. It was rebuilt in
1880, the Aldgate Station of the Metropolitan
Railway occupies part of the site. Hard by, at
25 Aldgate High Street, some twelve or fourteen
years ago, an old-fashioned gateway was still to
to be seen, surmounted by a handsome piece of
iron work, which once supported a lamp. In the
passage leading to the yard at the back, one could
dimly discern, nailed to the wall, a painted board,
once the sign of the Black Bull Inn. Some part
of that establishment then remained, and here in

THE CITY AND EAST END 79

the palmy days of coaching, just before the advent
of railways, Mrs. Anne Nelson, coach proprietor,
had held sway. It was said that she could make
up nearly two hundred beds at this hostelry, and
she lodged and boarded about three dozen of her
guards and coachmen. Most of her trade was to
Essex and Suffolk, but she also owned the Exeter
coach. She must have been landlady on the
memorable occasion when Mr. Pickwick arrived
in a cab after " two mile o' danger at eightpence,"
and it was through this very archway that he and
his companions were driven by the elder Weller
when they started on their adventurous journey
to Ipswich. The house is now wholly destroyed,
and the yard built over. On the opposite side
of Aldgate High Street, a few seventeenth -
century houses still survive, chiefly butchers' shops,
to remind us that even in Strype's time (1720)
they plied their trade here, because, as he tells
us, this region lies '' conveniently for driving and
carrying cattle from Rumford market." There is
also an old tavern, with the sign of the Hoop and
Grapes, better known as Christopher Hill's, with
handsomely carved door-posts of the same date as
the house.

A short distance to the south, along the

80 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Minories, close to the little church of Holy
Trinity, stood formerly one of the oldest public-
houses in London, by name the Sieve. The sign,
now extinct in London, had been associated with
it at any rate for considerably more than two
hundred years. Stow, the historian of London,
might almost have seen it, and we know that in
his boyhood he had often fetched milk from a
neighbouring farm, the site of which is still called
Goodman's Fields. Underneath there were crypt-
like cellars, the material used in their construc-
tion being of the nature of chalk. It is possible
that originally they had some connection with
the adjoining convent of "sorores minores" or
nuns of St. Clare, for J. T. Smith, who in 1797
sketched the remains of the conventual buildings
then laid bare by a fire, and published the results
in his Ancient Topography of London, tells us
that their walls were of chalk and Caen stone.
The parish of Holy Trinity is all included within
the ancient precincts of the convent, and in the
early days of the Reformation the gates were still
kept up. In the parish records, under date 1596,
there is mention of the appointment of a "vitler
to the parish." He was also to have the custody
of the keys, and was to close the gate "in the

THE CITY AND EAST END 81

sommer at night at tenne of the clocke, and in the
winter at nyne, and at noe other hour, except the
necessary and urgent occasions of the inhabitants
of the said parish doe require the contrarie.'*
Later extracts speak of vestry meetings at the
Sieve ; for instance " about agreeing to pull down
the churchyard wall," when matters were facilitated
by the expenditure of six shillings on refreshment.
A seventeenth -century trade token was issued
from this house, which for many years belonged
to the Byng family, but at length came into the
hands of the Metropolitan Railway Company, by
whom it was closed in 1886, but not entirely
destroyed until 1890. The writer made various
drawings of it, unfortunately all in monochrome,
which are now to be seen at the Bethnal Green
Museum.

The parish of Holy Trinity is now annexed to
that of St. Botolph, Aldgate, and the church,
within a few yards of the site of the old Sieve, is
used as a parish room. It is a plain little structure,
but has various interesting features and associa-
tions, which it is hardly the writer's province to
note in this volume. He would mention, however,
that on this site was the church of the Minoresses,

which survived until the year 1706, when it was

8^2 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

to a great extent rebuilt; but part of the north
wall remains, and in the early autumn of 1904,
a fire having laid bare a considerable space on
this side, exposed to view the whole of the
masonry, the most interesting portion being a
pointed window near the west end, which is much
mutilated but appears to be of the fourteenth or
fifteenth century.

Retracing our steps up the Minories to Aldgate
High Street, if we turn to the west, we shall still
find just within the original limits of the City,
that is beyond the site of Aldgate, the original
front of another well-known coaching inn — the
Saracen's Head. The old yard remains, and on
the right of the entrance the name in 1887 was
still visible under the paint. The carved pilasters
to the left must have been the work of an artist.
The back of the inn was once galleried, and
coaches plied from here to Norwich as long ago
as 1681.

CHAPTER III

MORE CITY HOUSES

" The old merchants — were a fine race. They knew their position
and built up to it." — Disraeli, Tancred.

We find ourselves once more in the City, and will
finish our quest among the old houses, now few
and far between. Already they have almost dis
appeared from the main thoroughfares, being found
in quiet nooks and corners — relies of a past age,
which seem to have survived by escaping notice
rather than from any wish to preserve them. The
first of these to which we shall allude is, it is true,
close to the headquarters of the corn trade ; but
having been in its time an important dwelling,
it still has a long forecourt, and remains somewhat
isolated. This stately old red brick mansion stands
back some distance on the west side of Mark
Lane, the entrance being through a very hand-
some doorway adorned with carvings of fruit and

84 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

figures, which seems to belong to the end of the
seventeenth century. The house is four storied, with
engaged pilasters. On the keys of the windows
are what appear to be heraldic decorations in cut
brick, perhaps the crest of the first owner. Passing
through a passage, one finds at the back another
handsome doorway, while the present main en-
trance is on the left, in what must have been an
early addition to the main building. On the
ground floor in the hall is a leaden statue which
looks as if it came out of a garden. The principal
staircase is now here, the carved balusters of varied
pattern, with their supporting brackets, being
excellent specimens of early eighteenth -century
woodwork, and on the landing is a window with
a recessed seat charmingly inlaid.

This house, like another we shall mention, has
been called the " Spanish ambassador's house," but
in this case there is no authority (except tradition)
for the title. A glance at Ogilby and Morgan's
plan of 1677 makes another suggestion more
likely. One there sees, just on this site, a court
marked "Navy Office," and possibly the business
of that institution was carried on here for a time,
but to decide the matter further research would
be necessary.

MORE CITY HOUSES 85

Forty years ago there were other fine old houses
in Mark Lane, standing in open courts and shaded by
trees, but all the rest have been destroyed to make
room for modern offices. During excavations on
the site of one in 1871 a Roman tesselated pave-
ment was found, together with fragments of Samian
ware.

Mention of the Navy Office reminds us that,
as we all know, its headquarters were for many
years in Seething Lane, hard by, and that Samuel
Pepys, who was Clerk of the Acts, lived in a house
adjoining and belonging to it. Here he wrote
almost the whole of his famous diary, and he was
finally laid to rest in the church of St. Olave, Hart
Street. In Seething Lane there is nothing now
that dates from his time ; but Catherine Court,
which extends from there to Tower Hill, was built
in 1725, and has or has had handsome iron work at
the entrance, and other decorative features.

Not far off, one of the best examples of a weU-to-
do citizen's dwelling of the time of Charles II. is
to be found in that amphibious region between
Lower Thames Street and Little Tower Street,
where it has been used since 1859 for the Bilhngs-
gate and Tower Ward school. It stands in a quiet
courtyard opening into Botolph Lane, which runs

86 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

from Eastcheap to Lower Thames Street. A
second entrance is on the east side in Love Lane.
The front is plain but has an air of quiet dignity,
being built of well-laid and unusually small bricks
with stone dressings. It has a projecting cornice and
flat lead- covered roof. The doorway is approached
by a double flight of steps, beneath which an opening
has been left, once used as a dog kennel, to judge
from the little hollow for water scooped out in
front. Entering a hall, which extends right through
the house and is paved with alternate chequers of
black and white, one sees in front a massive staircase
with the date 1670 on the plaster above. Upstairs
the house has been mutilated, the greater part of
the landings on the first and second floors being
included in the schoolrooms, but fine chimney-
pieces of various dates, well-designed cornices and
plaster-work, evince the taste of former possessors.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the house is a
small room immediately to the left of the main
entrance. It is panelled throughout, and painted
from ceiling to floor with strange designs, among
which one can dimly discern the figures of Indians,
a rhinoceros, antelopes, palm trees, and other signs
of tropical life as it presented itself to the memory
or imagination of the artist. According to some.

MORE CITY HOUSES 87

the history of the tobacco plant is here depicted,
but of this I could see no sign. The paintings
were in the first instance brightly coloured, the
prevailing tone is now a rich mahogany, due partly
to time and varnish, partly to the fact that years
ago damp Brazil nuts were stored in the basement,
which became heated and the fumes forced them-
selves into the room above. Fortunately we
know the name of the painter of this curious
series of pictures, one of the panels being signed
" R. Robinson, 1696." Perhaps this was his master-
piece for it is the only record of him which has come
down to us. The other decorations of the room
are a carved mantel and a panelled cupboard.

The house is eloquently described in the pathetic
novel Mitre Court, Here Mr. Brisco suffered, and
Abigail Weir passed her innocent girlhood. Their
joys and sorrows are true — to human nature at
least ; truer I fear than Mrs. Riddell's assertion
that Sir Christopher Wren was its architect and
first inhabitant, though the design is not altogether
unworthy of him. At the time of writing, we
hear, alas ! that it is doomed. Cannot something
be done to save it from destruction ?

A short distance to the north, on the east side of
Lime Street, was formerly a superb old mansion

88 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

still standing in the year 1872, when the late Mr.
G. H. Birch and Mr. R. Phene Spiers made draw-
ings and measurements of it, which were afterwards
published in the form of a monograph. It appears
to have been built by Richard Langton about the
year 1600, the site having been occupied in the
fifteenth century by Lord Scrope of Bolton, and
bequeathed in 1501 to the Fishmongers' Company.
In 1700-1 Sir Thomas Abney was Lord Mayor,
and there he kept his mayoralty. He was a great
supporter of St. Thomas's Hospital, and will also
be remembered as the friend and patron of Dr. Isaac
Watts. Mantelpieces from thence are preserved
in the Guildhall Museum and at South Kensington.
Let us now turn our steps to the region of
A-Ustin Friars, which still has, in what is now the
Dutch Church, a famous relic of monastic times ;
and, although within a few yards of the Stock
Exchange, has hardly yet altogether succumbed to
the assaults of the modern builder. The most
interesting houses, however, have now been de-
stroyed. Early in 1896 the house numbered 10
ceased to be. It was on the north side of the
old Friars' Church, the date on a rain-pipe proved
that it had been there at least as early as the
year 1704. The porch was approached by steps ;

MORE CITY HOUSES 89

ascending these one saw in front a spacious stair-
case, so typical of the period that it is here por-
trayed. This staircase was panelled throughout,
and was especially noticeable from its ceiling,
which was painted on plaster with allegorical
figures in the style of Sir James Thornhill. The
house No. 11 formed part of the same block of
buildings. While these were in process of destruc-
tion a Gothic arch was exposed to view, the upper
part of which had been in a room on the ground
floor of No. 10, incorporated in the east wall of the
house. From the character of the mouldings it
was held to date from the fifteenth century, having
no doubt belonged to the cloisters of the Augustine
Friars. Other mediaeval remains were found, and
a paper on the subject was read before the London
and Middlesex Archaeological Society.

Another house, which made more stir at the
time of its destruction, was No. 21 Austin Friars,
at the north-west corner of the precinct. It had
been built in the latter part of the seventeenth
century, and in the year 1705 came into the hands
of Herman Olmius, merchant, whose name occurs
in the first London directory, namely that for
1677, where he is described as "of Bishopsgate-
without. Angel Alley." Descended from an

90 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

ancient family of Arlon in the Duchy of Luxem-
bourg, he was naturalised, and having made a large
fortune died in 1718. His will showed that he
was a member not of the Dutch congregation in
Austin Friars, but of the French Church in
Threadneedle Street, to which he left £150 for the
benefit of the poor. His eldest son died Deputy-
Governor of the Bank of England, and his grand-
son, who for many years represented Colchester in
the House of Commons, was made an Irish peer
as Lord Waltham, but the title died out in the
next generation. The family possessed much land
in Essex, and had a famous country seat at Bore-
ham, now used as a convent. Herman Olmius
had left the Austin Friars property to the children
of his younger daughter, Margaret, married to
Adrian Lernoult, who predeceased him. In 1783
Hughes Minet came to live here, and in 1802 he
bought a share of the house from descendants of
Margaret Lernoult. He was of Huguenot ancestry,
and his family had long carried on a prosper-
ous business at Dover. The Minets occupied
No. 21 for many years ; in 1838 Messrs. Thomas,
Son, and Lefevre were established here, the last
named being a brother of Lord Eversley. The
final owner was Mr. John Fleming, through whose

MORE CITY HOUSES 91

kindness I had the privilege of exploring the whole
property on almost the last day that it remained
intact. In truth the house itself was by no means
a striking piece of architecture ; the only decora-
tion externally was a carved hood to the doorway
forming the chief entrance from Austin Friars.
But having been from the beginning practically
unchanged, there were points about it worthy of
record. The counting-house on the ground floor
had a Purbeck marble mantelpiece, on the upper
moulding of which appeared in white marble the
Olmius arms with very elaborate quarterings,
representing the foreign families of Gerverdine,
Cappre, Drigue, and Reynstein. Mounting the
broad staircase which, like that at No. 10, had
carved and twisted balusters, one came upon the
dining-room and drawing-room on the first floor ;
the former looked out on what had once been the
pleasant and ample garden of the Drapers' Com-
pany. Retracing our steps to the hall we found
flanking a passage on the side opposite to the
counting-house a lofty kitchen still furnished with
smoke-jack, racks, and iron cauldron-holders, and
next to the range an oven lined with blue and
white tiles, perhaps a legacy of Herman Olmius.
Through a passage we passed to the outer offices.

92 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

a brewery, washhouse, coachhouse, and stables ;
from these again there was access by a side entrance
into the garden — a quiet spot some half-acre in
extent, which no doubt had originally formed part
of the Friars' grounds. It was connected by steps
with a narrow terrace running along the back of
the house. Here, in the summer of 1888, fig-trees
were still flourishing while the work of destruction
had already begun.

The boundary at the end of this garden was
formed by another very interesting house. No. 23
Great Winchester Street, improved out of exist-
ence in the year 1890. It was approached through
a paved yard with a lodge on each side of the
entrance, its chief external characteristics being a
somewhat high-pitched roof and wings projecting
forward. Inside, the chief reception-room was
finely proportioned, and the staircase had pleasant
architectural features. At the Dissolution the
house and grounds of the Augustine Friars had
been bestowed by Henry VIII. (for a consideration
no doubt) on William Paulet, first Marquis of
Winchester, who there built his town residence,
traces of which existed as late as the year 1844 ;
after this mansion Winchester Street was named.
From a date carved on a grotesque bracket, formerly

MORE CITY HOUSES 93

to be seen at the north-east corner, it appears that
the street was constructed, partly at least, in the
year 1656, during the government of Cromwell.
Strype says that here was " a great messuage called
the Spanish Ambassador's House, of late inhabited
by Sir James Houblon, Knight and Alderman, and
other fair houses." Even down to our time it was
a remarkably picturesque specimen of an old
London street. Now nothing but the name is left
to mark its connection with antiquity.

Some little distance to the west of the district
we have just been exploring, at No. 4 Coleman
Street, near its junction with London Wall, a house
was standing not many years ago which, like houses
innumerable, was reputed to have been a residence
of OHver Cromwell. At first sight it had the
appearance of dating from the earlier part of the
eighteenth century. There was in it a good
eighteenth-century staircase with a skylight above,
and one of the rooms had a handsome mantelpiece,
also apparently Georgian. Another room on the
first floor was of more interest and importance.
Its panelling was of cedar, and the carved chimney-
piece was distinctly Jacobean in character. The
house, therefore, was much older than its general
character would have led one to suppose, or else

94 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

it had been rebuilt early in the eighteenth century,
the chimney-piece and panelling being insertions
from an older building. It should be added that
the north end of Coleman Street is known to have
escaped the Great Fire. In 1891-92 "the cedar
room " was used as an office by Mr. H. S. Foster,
then Sheriff of London. In 1896 the house was
pulled down by Messrs. Colls and Son, whose offices
adjoined, and in clearing away the foundations the
workmen came upon three ancient wells — two of
them went down twenty feet below the pavement
level. The following is quoted from an illustrated
article in the City Press for June 6, 1896 :— " The
construction of these wells or elongated water-butts
was simplicity itself. Tubs or casks bound with
wooden hoops were sunk into the ground and
banked up with puddled clay to keep them water-
tight. The clay remains to this day, as also do the
wooden hoops (or did till very recently), but the
latter are as soft as touchwood." The description
of these casks reminds one of casks somewhat
similar which have been found in Roman wells at
Silchester, and were exhibited in the rooms of the
Society of Antiquaries at Burlington House, but
examples more analogous, because of a similar date,
were brought to light not long ago in the course

■ 1 ■■ .^

MORE CITY HOUSES 95

of alterations at the Bank of England. In the
wells beneath No. 4 Coleman Street were discovered
various pieces of pottery in remarkably good pre-
servation, and of types ranging from the beginning
of the fifteenth to the end of the seventeenth
century, which are now at the Guildhall Museum,
The soil in which these old wells were sunk was
dark and peaty ; in all probability it once formed
part of the marsh land of Moorfields.

If the reader cares now to explore the lanes
about the neighbourhood of Cannon Street Rail-
way Station, it will be a pleasure to intro-
duce him to a few capital specimens of old city
architecture ; and by slightly prolonging our walk
we may pay a flying visit to No. 73 Cheapside
which is or has been known as the " Old Mansion
House." According to the usual accounts, it
obtained this name from the fact that Sir William
Turner, for whom it was built shortly after the
Great Fire, here kept his mayoralty in 1668-69.
On an engraving of the house, dating apparently
from about 1825, it is described as the residence
of Mr. Tegg, the bookseller, the design being
attributed to Sir Christopher, but this seems to be
all the authority for the latter statement Since
then the front has been modernised, but there is

96 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

still an old staircase with massive newels and
balusters, dating no doubt from the seventeenth
century.

We will now make our way to Laurence
Poultney Hill, a narrow lane running south from
Cannon Street, a short distance to the east of the
railway station, and as we pause for a moment
we may note an inscription on the corner house
telling us that it leads to Duck's Foot Lane and
to Suffolk Lane. Here one has a group of names
conveying an historic lesson, the name Poultney
indicates the former connection of Sir John de
Pulteney, four times Mayor of London, with the
parish, while Duck's Foot Lane is undoubtedly a
corruption of "Duxfield," which in its turn is
equivalent to " Dukes Field" Lane, having reference
to Dukes of Suffolk and other dukes who in
succession held the property which had belonged
to the great citizen, de Pulteney. I shall revert
to this subject in another chapter when describing
a crypt destroyed here some years ago ; meantime
we will glance at two or three merchants' houses
still to be found in the neighbourhood.

A few yards down Laurence Poultney Hill, on
the west side, we shall see two beautiful doorways
of a style which was not unusual in the reign of

MORE CITY HOUSES 97

Queen Anne, but these specimens are among the
best in existence. An important brick mansion,
built on this site immediately after the Great Fire,
was in 1702 sold to Thomas Denning, citizen and
Salter, and in the following year replaced by the
houses of which these doorways form part. Within
one of their shell-shaped canopies is the date of
erection, and on the other are the figures in relief
of two boys playing at marbles. This house has
a handsome staircase, shown through the open
door in our illustration. The Rev. H. B. Wilson,
D.D., who published in 1831 an account of the
parish of St. Laurence Poultney, and was a master
of Merchant Taylors' School, resided here, the
house to the left being then occupied by Mr. Justin
Fitzgerald. The general effect of the two build-
ings, which form one architectural composition, is
spoiled by an ugly modern addition in front.

Immediately to the west or south-west is Suffolk
Lane, united to Laurence Poultney Hill by a short
roadway, and here No. 2, although outside there
is nothing particularly attractive about it, contains
in a ground-floor room, above the carved marble
mantelpiece and on the walls, decorative plaster
work of rather an elaborate kind. It is Italian
in style, and, although perhaps somewhat more

98 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

modern, much resembles work executed by Italian
plasterers in 1725-26 at Ditchley in Oxfordshire,
the home of Viscount Dillon. Their names were
Giuseppe Artavi, Francesco Serena, and Francesco
Vassali, as shown in still-existing documents. In
the calendar of the Sherborne Muniments, under
date 1724, 1 find among Sir John Button's accounts
the following entry : — *' To Sign"" S. Vassalii for
making 14 busts and pedestals and busts in my
hall, 20li. 9s." There are also at 2 Suffolk Lane
fine carved over-doors, and a pretty mantelpiece
upstairs with painted plaques in the style some-
what of Angelica KaufFmann.

A little farther west is College Hill, so named
because Richard Whittington, perhaps the best
remembered of all the mediasval Mayors of London,
here founded a College of St. Spirit and St. Mary.
He was buried in St. Michael's Church hard by,
which was destroyed in the Great Fire, and rebuilt
by Sir Christopher Wren, whose handsome tower
still adorns the narrow thoroughfare. Here, also,
two gateways with sculptured pediments remain
which might have been designed by Wren. It
is worthy of remark that on College Hill was the
house and courtyard of " Zimri," the second and
last Duke of Buckingham of the Villiers family,

MORE CITY HOUSES 99

who, as Strype tells us, lived in this street for
some time "upon a particular humour." Hatton,
in his New View of London, 1708, says that this is
"a spacious building on the east side of College
Hill, now or late in the possession of Sir John
LethieuUier," and as regards the position of the
house he is followed by Peter Cunningham in
his famous handbook of London. However, in
Ogilby and Morgan's plan of 1677, and in the
plan attached to Strype's edition of Stow, the
Duke's dwelling is distinctly shown on the west
side of College Hill.

At present the gateways are incorporated in a
frontage which in old leases is always called " the
stable." They form the means of access to two
houses under one roof; that to the south — No.
21 College Hill — being a capital specimen of a
merchant's dwelling of the early part of the
eighteenth century, with a handsome staircase,
carved over-doors, and a finely-panelled room on
the first floor. They stand back some distance
from the street and have no particular relation
with the gateways, which are older in style.
Underneath both houses run very large cellars,
which are connected, and within meinory there
was a small garden at the back of No. 21. In

100 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

1746 this house belonged to Charles LethieuUier,
and was then tenanted by Sir Samuel Pennant,
the previous occupant having been Sir Robert
Godschall. The house afterwards passed by
marriage to the Hulses ; for many years it has
been in the hands of the Wilde family, which has
produced two eminent judges — Lord Truro and
Lord Penzance.

Taking into consideration the fact of the pro-
perty having once belonged to the Lethieulliers,
from its ground plan, and from the style of the
gateways themselves, and of the building to which
they are attached, it seems not improbable that
here were the stables of Buckingham House with
a garden at the back. The house between the
gateways and the church was built for the Mercers'
School, being opened by the master and wardens
of the Company, June 6, 1832, and is said to
occupy the site of Whittington's dwelling. The
school has of late vears been removed to Barnard's
Inn, which we shall presently visit. The building
on College Hill remains intact.

From the foot of College Hill, a short walk
along Upper Thames Street towards the west, and
then a turn to the river, would, not many years ago,
have taken us to Paul's Pier, now no longer in exist-

MORE CITY HOUSES 101

ence. Thence the view was one which we felt must
be recorded. In the immediate foreground stood
a curious riverside dwelling, squeezed in between
two great warehouses, its quaint bay window pro-
jecting over a wide doorway for the passage of
goods, which opened on to the Thames. The
house, containing two staircases and nineteen
rooms, was in 1891 still occupied as a private
residence, being let in apartments, and was one of
the last of its kind on the Thames bank in London.
It was popularly supposed to be three hundred
years old, and to have been occupied by James I.,
the building on an adjoining wharf being used as a
barrack for his soldiers, but from the architectural
point of view there was nothing to indicate that it
dated from before the end of the seventeenth or
beginning of the eighteenth century. East Paul's
Wharf, immediately west of it, had been rebuilt in
1890, but the large warehouse adjoining this on the
west, known as Paul's Wharf, and sometimes called
** the barracks," looked as if it had been built in the
latter half of the eighteenth century. It ran back
some distance, having twelve gables alongside the
way to Paul's Pier. Shortly after the completion
of our drawing, a subterranean brick tunnel (partly
under the old house) was discovered. It began at

102 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

a distance of about 50 feet from the Thames, and
extended in a northerly direction for about 110
feet, being 14 feet wide, with a clear way of some
8 feet, after allowing for a deep deposit of mud
along the floor. Within, the roof of the arch
was covered with stalactites in some cases a yard
long ; the two ends had been bricked up. The
writer of an article in the Builder for August 2,
1891, suggests that this tunnel may possibly have
been made to assist in carrying off the torrents
that used to run down the steep inclines in this
part of the town after great and sudden rains,
sometimes to the peril of human life. The old
house, the "barracks," and the tunnel were all
destroyed in 1898. During the work of recon-
struction, ancient timber piling came to light
which had been used for the embankment of the
river.

Stow describes Paul's Wharf as " a large land-
ing-place with a common stair upon the river
Thames, at the end of a street called Paul's Wharf
Hill, which runneth down from Paul's Chain."
We have already noted the fact that the iron
railings for St. Paul's Cathedral were landed at
Paul's Wharf. Letters to Sir John Paston "at
the George by Powley's Wharf," were written as

MORE CITY HOUSES 103

long ago as 1476. From here a seventeenth-century
trade token was issued, reading as follows : —

Obverse, — at • ye • next • boat • by • pavls =

A boat containing three men ; over it, next boat.

Reverse, — wharfe • at • peters • hill • foot =

M. M. B.

Paul's Pier was within a few minutes' walk of
Dean's Court, St. Paul's Churchyard, where stands
the Deanery, the wall enclosing which is shown, in
one of our illustrations, on the left. In 1894 great
changes took place at this spot, which had before
been singularly quiet and old - fashioned. The
entrance from St. Paul's Churchyard was until
then through an archway, under a house dating
from immediately after the Great Fire, which was
said traditionally to have been used by Wren as an
office after the rebuilding of St. Paul's. This
house is shown in course of demolition, while the
ground on the right lies vacant, and we were thus
enabled to have a glimpse of the Cathedral, now
again quite concealed. The houses to the east,
facing St. Paul's Churchyard, together with the
Vicar-General's office, and other houses on the
same side of Dean's Court, were cleared away to
enable Messrs. Pawson and Co. to extend their

104 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

warehouses, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
having granted them a building lease for that
purpose.

Dean's Court did not actually form part of the
precinct of Doctors' Commons (finally cleared
away in 1867), but was associated with, and in its
immediate neighbourhood. Sam Weller in Pick-
wick thus humorously refers to the entrance : —
"St. Paul's Churchyard — low archway on the
carriage side, bookseller's at one corner, hotel on
the other, and two porters in the middle as touts
for licences." It was here that his father was
inveigled into matrimony. The Dean's house, yet
standing, was built by Wren, after the Great Fire,
on the site of the former Deanery, but shorn of the
chief part of its garden stretching down to the
river, which was portioned off in building leases to
defray the cost of the new structure. The porch
is decorated with carved festoons of flowers in the
style of Grinling Gibbons. There is also a hand-
some staircase. Little more than a generation ago
rooks used to build on the plane trees in front.

Immediately opposite to the south end of
Dean's Court, in Carter Lane, an old inn called
the Swan with two Necks, with a painted sign
against the wall in front, was standing until the

MORE CITY HOUSES 105

end of 1894. It had been a coaching house, but of
modest dimensions, never a rival of the famous
Swan with two Necks in Lad Lane, once the head-
quarters of Mr. William Chaplin, perhaps the
greatest coach proprietor that ever lived. Times
having changed, the building facing Carter Lane
became an ordinary public-house, while the galleried
portion at the back was occupied by persons in the
employment of Messrs. Pawson, the great ware-
housemen. This drawing was made in October
1894, when the place had just been vacated, having
been taken over by the Post Office authorities.
At that time the place was overrun by a legion of
half - starved rats, their supply of food having
suddenly been cut off by the exodus of the human
inhabitants. A Post Office Savings Bank was
shortly afterwards built on the site.

The origin of the sign has often been explained,
but as a rule inaccurately. Perhaps, for reference,
it will be useful to put the explanation in a concise
form. The swans on the upper reaches of the
Thames are owned respectively by the Crown and
the Dyers' and Vintners' Companies of the City of
London, and, according to ancient custom, the
representatives of these several owners make an
expedition each year up the river and mark the

106 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

cygnets. The Royal mark used to consist of five
diamonds, the Dyers' of four bars, and the Vintners'
of the chevron or letter V and two nicks. The
word " nicks " has been corrupted into necks, and
as the vintners were often tavern-keepers, the Swan
with two Necks became a common inn and tavern
sign. The swan marks just described continued
in use until the year 1878, when the swanherds
were prosecuted by the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals, on the ground that they
inflicted unnecessary pain. Although the prosecu-
tion failed, the marks have since been simplified.

Other houses of entertainment more or less in
this part of the City, which have ceased to be, within
the memory of most of us, deserve a short obituary
notice before we conclude this chapter. The Green
Dragon Inn on St. Andrew's Hill, must from the
first have been but a humble hostelry, but from the
back at least it was very picturesque, dating no
doubt from immediately after the Great Fire. It
was drawn by the writer in 1890, and pulled down
in 1896. St. Andrew's Hill was first called Puddle
Hill, afterwards Puddle Dock Hill, from the
neighbouring wharf of that name. Shakespeare
owned property in Ireland Yard hard by, near the
Blackfriars' theatre, with which he was associated.

OF THE
OF

MORE CITY HOUSES 107

In Ireland Yard also remains of the famous house
of the Dominican Friars were lately brought to
light. A quaintly -named house was the Goose
and Gridiron in London House Yard, north of
St. Paul's Cathedral, demolished about 1896.
Set into the wall in front was a stone tablet
having on it a bishop's mitre, the initals TF, and
the date 1786, and on the top of a lamp pro-
jecting from below a first-floor window was a
veritable imitation of a goose on a gridiron, now
to be seen in the Guildhall Museum. Before the
Great Fire there was a house with the sign of
the mitre in London House Yard, perhaps on
this very spot, where in the year 1642 were to be
seen, among other curiosities "a choyce Egyptian
with hieroglyphicks, a Remora, a Torpedo, the
Huge Thighbone of a Giant," etc., as then adver-
tised ; and again in 1644, Robert Hubert, alias
Forges, '* Gent, and sworn servant to his Majesty,"
exhibited here a museum of natural rarities. The
catalogue describes them as "collected by him
with great Industrie, and thirty years' travel into
foreign countries ; daily to be seen at the place
called the Musick-house at the Mitre, near the
west end of St. Paul's Church." Concerts were
doubtless among the attractions the house provided.

108 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

until its destruction in the Great Fire. It has been
suggested that on the rebuilding of the premises,
the new tenant, to ridicule the character of the
former business, chose as his sign a goose stroking
the bars of a gridiron with her foot, and wrote
below *'The Swan and Harp." This explanation
of the origin of the sign is at least ingenious.
Larwood and Hotten think that it was a homely
rendering of a charge in the coat of arms of the
Musicians' Company.

At the Goose and Gridiron Sir Christopher
Wren presided over the St. Paul's Lodge of Free-
masons for upwards of eighteen years. In that
curious tavern book, the Vade Mecum of Malt-
worms, there is a drawing of the sign, and we are
told in doggerel as rude that —

Dutch carvers from St. Paul's adjacent dome,
Hither to whet their whistles daily come.

The Goose and Gridiron, eighty years ago, was a
famous house of call for coaches to • Hammersmith,
and various villages west of London.

A far more important and more picturesque
hostelry was the Oxford Arms, approached by a
passage from Warwick Lane, extending to Amen
Corner on the south, and bounded on the west

MORE CITY HOUSES 109

by the site of the old London wall. A writer
in the Athenceum of May 20, 1876, thus writes
of it immediately before its demolition : — " Despite
the confusion, the dirt, and the decay, he who
stands in the yard of this ancient inn may get an
excellent idea of what it was like in the days of
its prosperity, when not only travellers in coach
or saddle rode into or out of the yard, but poor
players and mountebanks set up their stage for the
entertainment of spectators, who hung over the
galleries or looked on from their rooms — a name
by which the boxes of a theatre were first kno vn."
The house must have been rebuilt after the
Great Fire which raged over all this area. That
it existed before, is proved by the following odd
advertisement from the London Gazette for March
1672-73 :— "These are to give notice that Edward
Bartlet, Oxford Carrier, hath removed his Inn in
London from the Swan at Holborn Bridge to the
Oxford Arms in Warwick Lane, where he did Inn
before the Fire. His coaches and waggons going
forth on their usual days, Mondays, Wednesdays,
and Fry days. He hath also a hearse, and all things
convenient to carry a Corps to any part of England.'
In the palmy days of coaching, just before the
advent of railways, the Oxford Arms was occupied

110 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

by Mr. Edward Sherman, who carried on his
chief coaching business at the Bull and Mouth,
St. Martin's-le-Grand. After 1868 many of the
rooms were let out in tenements, but the inn still
did a good carriers' trade, carts leaving daily for
Oxford and other places. It was closed in 1875,
and pulled down in the following year. Views of
this house formed the first of a series issued by the
society for photographing relics of old London.
Mr. Alfred Marks, the accomplished secretary,
wrote most useful accompanying notes. Another
old galleried house, which long lingered in Warwick
Lane, but on the opposite side, was the Bell Inn,
where Archbishop Leighton died in 1684. As
Burnet tells us, he had often said that '* if he were
to choose a place to die in it should be an Inn ; it
looked like a pilgrim's going-home to whom this
world was all as an Inn, and who was weary of the
noise and confusion in it." Thus his desire was
fulfilled.

CHAPTER IV

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS

London ; that great sea whose ebb and flow
At once is deaf and loud_, and on the shore
Vomits its wrecks^ and still howls on for more.
Yet in its depth what treasures !

Shelley.

A FACT, of which many people are unaware, is
that in ancient cities the soil has almost invariably
accumulated to a considerable depth, so that the
houses stand on successive layers of debris, reveal-
ing all sorts of hidden treasures which tell the story
of the site. This is eminently the case in the City
of London, especially in that part of it contained
within the line of the ancient walls. All this area
was long occupied by the Romans, and if the site
is excavated down to the primeval soil, as is almost
always the case nowadays when a new building
is about to be erected, evidence is often found of

Roman, Saxon, and Norman occupation, and so on

111

112 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

through later times, a calcined layer indicating the
effects of the Great Fire, while near the surface
objects of the eighteenth century are exposed to
view. Another place where ancient objects have
accumulated and been preserved is the bed of the
Thames, especially along the line of old London
Bridge. Various collections of such objects have
from time to time been made, the largest and
the most easily consulted is that at the Guild-
hall Museum ; but unfortunately, in spite of our
boasted business qualities, we are not a methodical
people, and there has been no systematic register
of excavations, or record of the finds. In the
most frequented parts of the old city the Roman
remains are sometimes covered with not less than
eighteen feet of debris or even more, but along
the line of the old wall, that is on the fringe of the
City, as a rule one finds the Roman ground level
considerably nearer the surface.

When, in the course of the year 1903, that
most impressive piece of architecture, Newgate
Prison, was levelled with the ground, one was not
surprised to hear that remains of the Roman wall
of London were being brought to light, for we
all knew that Dance's building had displaced a
portion of that structure. It was the privilege

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 11^

of the writer to see these and other remams im-
mediately after they were laid bare, and he had
the melancholy satisfaction of visiting the site
frequently whilst they were being demolished, a
work which took several months. A piece of
Roman wall was discovered, not less than 68 feet
in length. It was 8^ feet thick at the Roman
ground level, and the undeniably Roman masonry
rose to about an equal height, its top, nevertheless^
being below the level of Newgate Street. The
construction was like that of other portions of the
Roman wall which from time to time have been
examined. Immediately above the ground level
on the outside it had a plinth of ironstone, the wall
generally being faced on each side with roughly
squared stones of Kentish "rag." The interior
was composed of fragments of ragstone carefully
packed, on to which mortar had been poured in
a liquid or semi -liquid state, and the wall was
bonded with courses of large flat tiles which ran
right through. Outside its facing was a good deal
dilapidated, but towards the east it was in remark-
ably good condition. Standing up boldly to a con-
siderable height above the virgin sand and gravel,
it formed a picturesque and interesting object, the
destruction of which one could not but lament.

114 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

A detached fragment of masonry, near Newgate
Street, must have belonged to the Roman gateway
which, as archaeologists now agree, once stood upon
this site. West of this was a portion of the
mediaeval gateway, which we now discover to have
been injured, not destroyed, in the Great Fire of
London. Remains of a broad ditch were also
discovered, together with fragments of Roman
pottery and other relics. Among them was part
of a small mediaeval statue held to represent St.
Christopher and the infant Christ, which has been
pieced together and is now in the Guildhall Museum.

Reference to the Roman wall reminds one that
originally the wall of London on this side, after
joining Ludgate to the south, ran straight down
from there to the Thames. In the year 1276 the
Friars-Preachers of the Dominicati Order, com-
monly known as the Black Friars, who had found
the original establishment of the order in Holborn
too small for their requirements, secured a piece of
land to the south and south-west of Ludgate. It
was not, however, until 1278 that the necessary
license was obtained from the Bishop and Chapter
of London to erect a new church and buildings.
As to their site, Stow says that " Gregory Rokesley,
mayor, and the barons of London granted and gave

^ ^

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 115

to Robert Kilwarbie, Archbishop of Canterbury,
two lanes or ways next the street of Baynard's
Castle, and also the tower of Mountfitchet to be
destroyed, on the which place the said Robert built
the late new church with the rest of the stones
that were left of the said tower." It seems, there-
fore, that both these men helped the Friars largely ;
and in 1311 Edward II. by charter confirmed the
gift. The Friars were also allowed to pull down
the City wall and to take in all the land to the
west as far as the Fleet river, and it was intimated
to the Mayor that the new wall should be built at
the expense of the City. Thus we know rather
accurately when the Norman tower of Mountfitchet
and this part of the Roman wall were destroyed.
A glance at the map enables us to feel almost
certain that the latter ran down to or through the
Times printing ofiice.

In May 1900, on the pulling down of No. 7
Ireland Yard, St. Andrew's Hill, previously in the
occupation of Messrs. Reuben Lidstone and Son,
carpenters, attention was called to mediaeval arches
and vaulting, the upper part of which had been
always visible above ground. A painting, done at
this time, has been reproduced as one of our illus-
trations. When the modern buildings to the east

116 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

w ere also removed, further remains came to light,
the whole being of considerable extent and
interest.

As we know from a Loseley manuscript, the
church of the Friars-Preachers was an important
structure, measuring in breadth 66 feet, and in
length 220 feet, dimensions rather greater than
those of St. Saviour's, Southwark. Within the
precinct of Blackfriars, before the Reformation,
stood the Church of St. Anne, afterwards rebuilt
and finally destroyed in the Great Fire. The
remains which came to light in 1900, extending
almost from Friar Street on the east to St. Anne's
churchyard on the west, were about 27 feet wide
by 40 feet, but the building had originally been
longer. The space had been divided into two
alleys of equal dimensions (each being between
13 and 14 feet wide) by a row of Purbeck marble
shafts, four in number, which supported the stone
vaulting of the roof One of these shafts remained
in situ, and still carried a cross rib springing at the
other end from a corbel attached to the north wall.
The stone of this rib had been reddened by the
action of fire. The base of the shaft was 9 feet
below the present ground level, the total height from
the base to the crown of the arch being 16 feet.

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 117

The most perfect piece of the north wall was that
immediately west of the corbel supporting the
cross rib. It showed the remains of a wall arch,
enclosing and partly hiding the head of a pointed
window still fairly perfect, which is shown in our
illustration. In the same wall, farther east, were
traces of a similar window. In the ground ex-
cavated within the area of the building, many
skulls and other human remains were found,
huddled together without order, as if they had
been transplanted from some other burial-place.
It is clear that the structure of which these remains
formed part had not been originally connected
with the parish church of St. Anne, Blackfriars,
the site of this, as can be seen in Ogilby and
Morgan's map of 1677, having been in the adjoin-
ing burial-ground. Moreover, it was never claimed
for that church that it had been founded before
the fourteenth century at the earliest. On the
other hand, the style of the remains here discovered
exactly fits in with the date of the foundation of
the House of Friars-Preachers ; we may therefore
be sure that they belonged to that house. They
were orientated, but whether they formed part of
the Friars' church or not is at present an open
question. Further information on the subject may

118 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

be found in a short article contributed by the
writer in 1901 to the first part of the London
Topographical Society's Annual Record.

Ireland Yard is approached from Water Lane
on the west, through Play House Yard and Glass
House Yard, each full of interesting associations,
although these associations began years after the
passing away of the Friars. Allusion has been
made on a previous page to Shakespeare's house
in Ireland Yard. In the deed of conveyance to
the poet it is described as " abutting upon a street
leading down to Puddle Wharf, and now or late in
the tenure or occupacon of one William Ireland."

As we all of us know, London in the Middle
Ages was most richly supplied with ecclesiastical
buildings. Fitzstephen, a monk who wrote in
the reign of Henry II., tells us that here and in
the suburbs were thirteen churches attached to
convents, and the great number of a hundred and
thirty-six parochial ones. The glory of the con-
ventual establishment passed away at the Reforma-
tion, but the parish churches mostly survived
without much structural change, except what
became necessary through lapse of time, until in
the Great Fire of 1666 no less than eighty-six of
them were destroyed or badly injured.

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 119

A dire catastrophe is apt to call forth the
energies of the master mind that can grapple with
it. This was the case when Christopher Wren,
at that time hardly a professional architect, turned
his attention to the City. In spite of his apparent
inexperience, he had already made a few fine
designs for buildings, for instance that of the
chapel of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and the
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, and he had a con-
siderable reputation as a man of science. Archi-
tects were then few and far between, and so it
came about that to him was assigned the task
of rebuilding or repairing not only St. Paul's
Cathedral, but if one includes St. Mary Woolnoth
and St. Sepulchre (both only repaired) no fewer
than fifty-two City churches. In carrying out his
stupendous undertaking, Wren was cramped and
thwarted by many difficulties, not the least of
these being a want of funds ; for although on a few
important churches, notably on St. Mary-le-Bow,
St. Bride's, Fleet Street, Christ Church, Newgate
Street, and St. Lawrence Jewry, considerable sums
were spent, as a rule he was compelled to practise
strict economy. It was no doubt partly on this
account that wherever the charred walls, or merely
the foundations, of a mediaeval church remained in

120 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

a solid condition they were worked into his build-
ing. The ground plans of Wrens churches are
often, one might say usually, a good deal out of
the square. In such cases he may now and then
be merely accommodating himself to the street
line, thus including as much as possible within the
prescribed area ; but as a rule he is utilising old
foundations, for, whereas it would be in the spirit
of Renaissance architecture to plan with something
approaching to mathematical accuracy, in Gothic
work little attention was paid to the laying-out of
exact parallelograms.

For a century, more or less, all Wren's City
churches remained intact, except St. Mary Wool-
noth, which was rebuilt by Nicholas Hawksmoor
in 1716, its repair having proved, a failure. The
first to go was St. Christopher -le- Stocks, taken
down when the Bank of England was enlarged in
1781. This was followed by St. Michael, Crooked
Lane, destroyed to make room for the approaches
of the present London Bridge. St. Bartholomew,
by the Exchange, was replaced by the present Sun
Fire Office in 1841, and soon afterwards St. Benet
Fink disappeared on the rebuilding of the Royal
Exchange. But it was the Union of City Benefices
Act, passed in 1858 and 1859, which has facilitated

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 121

the destruction of Wren's churches, eighteen of
which have now succumbed. This, whatever one's
feelings may be about the necessity of providing
churches elsewhere, cannot but be a matter of
regret to all lovers of fine architecture.

The Church of St. Michael, in Wood Street, a
little to the north of Cheapside, and on its south
side touching a passage called Huggin Lane, built,
or rather very much repaired and remodelled, by
Sir Christopher in 1675, at a cost of only a little
over £2550, was pulled down under the provisions
of this Act in 1897, and the parish, together with
the associated parish of St. Mary Staining, united
with that of St. Alban, Wood Street. It was one
of the cheapest of Wren's churches and also one
of the simplest. In this particular instance one
might admit that the interest lay not so much in
his building as in the older work which it obscured.
Externally, the east end was the most conspicuous
portion. The front was faced with Portland stone,
and decorated by four Ionic pilasters carrying a
cornice and pediment. Between these were three
round-headed windows. A clock jutting out from
the pediment was added in the nineteenth century,
and Wren's lantern on the tower had been replaced
by a dull-looking octagonal spire. The' interior of

122 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

St. Michael's Church was very plain, being more
or less an unbroken parallelogram, although not
absolutely so, as the two side walls widened out
towards the east end, which was also placed askew.
The tower, occupying the south-west corner,
projected slightly at the west end. Its ground
stage was blocked up so as to form an apartment
used as a vestry.

Of the Gothic building which had stood on this
site, the earliest direct notice with which the writer
is acquainted appears in the will of Geoffrey de
Ambresbure, goldsmith, enrolled in the Court of
Hu sting, and calendared by Dr. Sharpe under the
date 1272-73, whereby the said Geoffrey assigns
houses, gardens, and rents, in this parish and in
that of St. Giles, Cripplegate, for the purpose of
founding a chantry. In all probability, however,
as was the case with most other City churches, the
date of foundation was very much earlier. But what-
ever the age of the original church of St. Michael,
Wood Street, the first documentary evidence
forthcoming, which helps us to a knowledge of the
mediaeval structure, belongs to the latter part of
of the fourteenth century, and this merely relates
to a vestry on the north side which disappeared
leaving no trace behind. More important is a later

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 123

document to which we will now briefly refer. In
the year 1422, John Broun, citizen and saddler,
drew up his will (not proved until 1429-30) in
which, while disposing of the rest of his property
in various ways, he made the following bequest : —
" Item, I leave to Master Robert Fitzhugh rector
of the church of St. Michael in Hoggenlane and
to the custodians of the goods and work of this
church, and to four parishioners of this church for
the time being, all that vacant piece of ground,
with its appurtenances belonging to me, in the
parish of St. Michael, between the said church of
St. Michael on the east, and the house of John
Biernes goldsmith and of Benedicta his wife on
the west side, and the house of the rector and the
burial-ground of the said church on the north side,
and the lane called Hoggenlane on the south
side ; on which piece of vacant ground stood a
house lately acquired by me from Agnes Pychard
and others, which was then lately built and which I
have of late totally destroyed for the purpose of the
enlargement of the said church towards the west and
the adding of a belfry. Further as a contribution
towards the cost of the said enlargement I leave
the sum of ten pounds sterling and the sixteen
pounds which Thomas Lovell gentleman owes me."

124 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Turning now to the mediseval remains at the
church ; portions of these had always been more
or less apparent. Thus a water-colour drawing,
done after the completion of the modern spire,
shows a pointed window with fifteenth -century-
tracery on the south side of the tower, latterly
blocked up as to the upper part, while the lower
portion was converted into what looked like an
ordinary square window, serving to light the
vestry, which, as we have seen, occupied the ground
floor of the tower. Again, the top of the pointed
north tower-arch was visible from the gallery in
the tower, above the vestry, and there was a little
turret staircase at the north-west angle of the
tower, entered from the nave through a doorway
with fifteenth - century mouldings. On passing
through this doorway, and ascending by the spiral
staircase, one found that the mediseval masonry
ended within three or four feet of the belfry floor
level, and the building was carried up in brick,
evidently Wren's addition after the Fire. In his
brick superstructure he had placed pointed windows,
perhaps rough imitations of those which had existed
before. The mediaeval or lower part of the stair-
case had been lighted by three little quatrefoil
windows opening into the church.

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 125

When the building was pulled down it was
seen that the lower portion of the tower was
wholly Gothic. The most perfect piece was the
engaged arch on the western side of the tower.
The north and south arches were also perfect
enough to do their work, the latter containing the
square vestry window which filled the lower part
of the space formerly occupied by the pointed
window. The eastern arch appeared, as far as
one could judge, to have been entirely blocked by
Wren, but in 1831 the upper part of the wall
had been opened into the church and a small
gallery formed over the vestry, a round-headed arch
being inserted. As could be seen by their general
character and by their mouldings, these Gothic
remains were of the early fifteenth century ; thus
they coincided with the documentary evidence of
the building of the tower.

Much of Wren's south and east walls were
formed of re-used stone from the old church.
There was ancient masonry at the east end of the
south wall up to 2 or 3 feet above the wainscoting,
which was about 8 feet high. Embedded in the
south wall near the tower, among other fragments
not in their original positions, was an oblong piece
of stone of considerable size with three quatrefoil

126 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

openings, now in the Guildhall Museum ; the use
to which it had been put is, we think, doubtful.
The portions of walling not of old material, which
dated from Wren's time, were of brick. The
foundations of the church seemed to be generally
mediaeval. Some encaustic tiles, the majority of
which are now in the Guildhall Museum, were
found beneath the floor level. They dated appar-
ently from the fifteenth century. At the base of
the tower were many fragments of coloured glass
and of the lead- work in which it was fitted. These
belonged to the fourteenth century ; neither glass
nor lead appears to have been injured by fire.

Soon after the destruction of St. Michael's,
Wood Street, Wren's Church of St. Michael,
Bassishaw, was also pulled down, and here also a
great deal of mediaeval work was found. The
tower at the west end, as finished by him, looked
not unlike an Italian campanile. In the course of
demolition its lower part was found to date from
the end of the fifteenth century, and it had against
its west side a holy water stoup of late Gothic
design. There were rudely-arched stone founda-
tions under the south aisle, and at its east end
was the arched entrance to the vault of Sir John
Gresham, Lord Mayor in 1547-48, who died in

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 127

1554 He was brother of Sir Richard, uncle of
Sir Thomas, and ancestor of the Leveson Gowers
of Titsey. No vault remained on either side of
this entrance. Inside the church, traces of at
least two buried floors came to light, with fine
encaustic tiles in situ. These are mostly, it is
believed, in the Guildhall Museum.

Two more of Wren's churches in the City have
been pulled down since the writer first began to
make a study of its architecture. The first to
succumb, and from the artist's point of view by
far the most picturesque and interesting, was that
of All Hallows the Great in Upper Thames Street,
torn down in 1894, the site being bought by a
neighbouring brewery. Beyond the facts that the
patronage of the living had been in the hands of
the Le Despencers, and afterwards came to Richard
Nevil, Earl of Warwick, "the king-maker," not
much is known of the early history of All Hallows.
It is said by Stow to have been called " Alhallowes
the More in Thames street, for a difference from
Alhallowes the Less in the same street — also called
Alhallowes ad foenum in the Ropery, because hay
sold near thereunto at Hay wharf, and ropes of
old time made and sold in the high street." He
adds that *' it is a fair church, with a large cloister

128 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

on the south side thereof about their churchyard,
but foully defaced and ruinated."

The whole was destroyed or very much injured
in the Great Fire, and rebuilt by Wren, who,
according to his custom, used such parts of the
walls and foundations as were available. The
tower and north aisle or ambulatory of this
structure (which seems never to have been open
to the nave) were removed in 1876 for the widening
of Upper Thames Street. This, however, did not
affect the general appearance of the interior, which
had been very little changed since Wren's time, and
was in fact the only interior of a Wren church at all
in its original state, except that of the small church
of St. Mildred, Bread Street ; to students of archi-
tecture it was therefore of particular value. Among
the fittings was the famous open screen, shown in
our illustration, which is now in St. Margaret's
Church, Lothbury. This is usually said to have
been made at Hamburg, and given by the Hanseatic
merchants so long connected with the neighbour-
ing Steelyard. It is, however, clearly English, and
seems to have been paid for in the ordinary way.
It is likely that German merchants subscribed
towards the cost, for although the Hanseatic
Company in London had lost its special privileges

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 129'

during the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth^
their property in the Steelyard was not confiscated^
and they kept up a connection with the church and
neighbourhood until comparatively recent times.
It may be observed also that the screen has
on it the German eagle. The pulpit, with its
exquisite sounding-board, we know from a vestry
book to have been given, in 1862, by Theodore
Jacobsen, who was connected with the Steel-
yard. On the destruction of the church it was
found that part of the old south wall had been
incorporated to some extent in Wren's building,,
and elsewhere some of the old stones had been
re-used.

The last of Wren's churches to be mentioned is
tiiat of St. George, Botolph Lane, which stood
very near the Billingsgate and Tower Ward School,,
mentioned in a previous chapter, but on the opposite
side of the way. It occupied the site of an ancient
church destroyed in the Great Fire, and was pulled
down as recently as the year 1904. The doorway,
by which one entered the vestry at the south-east
corner, has so far been left standing, and with the
adjacent houses makes up a scene which looks as if
it belonged to the reign of good Queen Anne rather
than to the twentieth century. The fish porter and

130 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

the porters' " knots " introduced into our illustration
are modern enough, but they serve to remind us
that the lower end of Botolph Lane is almost
opposite to Billingsgate, a fact which a blind man
who had once visited the spot might easily guess,
for the odour of sanctity which it may once have
possessed is now entirely extinguished by "a very
ancient and fish-like smell."

St. George's was rather a small church, the
ground -plan being nearly square, with a tower
breaking into it at the north-west angle. Beyond
the fact that, like all Wren's buildings, it was finely
proportioned, there was nothing very remarkable
about it. Among its fittings was a wrought-iron
sword-rest with an inscription to the memory of
William Beckford, twice Lord Mayor of London,
and father of William Beckford who wrote Vathek,
At present the site of the church is lying vacant ;
perhaps when the foundations are dug up we
shall find stronger evidence than has yet come
to light of its early origin. The earliest mention
of it known to the writer dates from the year
1295, when money was left to " Sir Thomas, the
chaplain."

We have already visited St. Laurence Poultney
Hill, Cannon Street, and seen the fine doorways

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 131

there, happily still in existence. A favourable
opportunity now occurs for describing a far more
ancient relic hard by which survived until some
ten years ago. This was a crypt which ran east
and west, extending from Laurence Poultney Hill
to Suffolk Lane. It was beneath an eighteenth -
century house, No 3 Laurence Poultney Hill, and
was partly under and partly above ground, the prin-
cipal chamber being entered at the east end from
the street above. The ancient staircase had disap-
peared. This chamber was some 45 feet long by 18
feet to 20 feet wide, and consisted of two vaulted
and groined bays, which together occupied about
40 feet of the length, and to the east a ribbed barrel
vault about 5 feet wide. It was beautifully propor-
tioned but somewhat plain. The groins were sup-
ported on attached shafts. There were no ridge ribs
in the vaulting and no bosses. The floor was covered
with modern planks, on the removal of which the
ancient floor level was found about a foot below,
the bases of the shafts being exposed to view. The
height from this original floor to the crown of the
vault was a little over 12 feet 6 inches. Traces of
more than one arched opening were visible on the
side walls. At the west end was an arched door-
way some feet above the floor ; while to the left of

132 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

it was a smaller arch filled up, in the jamb of which
an iron hook might still be seen. The appearance
of this chamber may be gathered from the accom-
panying illustration. Ascending by a ladder, and
passing through the doorway, one entered a narrow
vaulted passage running north and south, its floor
being 4 feet 6 inches above the old floor of the
crypt just described. This passage, only 5 feet
wide and 9^ feet high, was in part handsomely
vaulted and groined ; the ribs were supported on
corbels decorated with ornament ; upon these were
placed moulded capitals. Some ancient stone pave-
ment was here visible, and at one end there were
fragments of encaustic tiles. In the west wall of
this passage were two arched openings, one leading
to a modern staircase which communicated with
Suffolk Lane. The other led into a vaulted
room only some 8 feet square and 9 feet 3 inches
high, with a window, comparatively modern, which
was above the level of the street.

In a paper read some years ago before the
Society of Antiquaries of London the writer
pointed out that this crypt had formed part of
a famous house, thus mentioned in the play of
Henry VIII, assigned to Shakespeare, Act I.,
Scene i. :

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 1S3

The Duke being at the Rose, within the Parish
St. Laurence Poultney, did of me demand
What was the speech among the Londoners
Concerning the French Journey.

A few allusions to the mansion and to the
people who occupied it will perhaps not be
thought out of place, and by way of introduction I
should say something about Sir John de Pulteney's
connection with the neighbourhood. Sir John,
who was called by Dr. Milman "the most muni-
ficent " of London citizens, by the beginning of the
reign of Edward III. had earned a high mercantile
position in the City of London. Often employed
by the King and others on important business, he
was Mayor of London in 1331, 1332, 1334, and
1337, and received the honour of knighthood on an
important occasion, namely when Edward, Prince
of Wales, commonly called the Black Prince, was
created Duke of Cornwall. Sir John gave largely
for purposes of religion. In 1332 he obtained a
letter from the King to the Pope in favour of a
proposal on his part to found a chantry in honour
of Corpus Christi, by the Church of St. Laurence,
Candlewick. The chantry, which absorbed a
previous establishment founded by Thomas Cole
for a master and one or two chaplains, seems to

134 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

have been originally intended for seven chaplains,
but was afterwards increased to form a college
for a master, thirteen priests, and four choristers.
On account of this generous gift the church came
to be called St. Laurence Poultney, and the college
was generally known as St. Laurence Poultney
College. We would add that the church was
destroyed in the Great Fire and not rebuilt; its
picturesque burial-ground remains. Sir John also
founded a chantry for three priests in St. Paul's
Cathedral, a house for the Carmelite Friars at
Coventry, and built the Church of All Hallows
the Less, in part, as we are told by Stow, over the
arched gateway of Cold Harbour. He resided for
a time almost within a stone's throw of Laurence
Poultney Hill, in this very important mansion on
the bank of the Thames, the name of which is
so common throughout England, and has been
so often discussed. Stow tells us that this Cold
Harbour, the most famous place so called, already
existed in the thirteenth year of Edward II., that
in the eighth year of Edward III. John Bigot and
Sir John Cosenton sold their respective moieties
of it to Sir John de Pulteney (by whom it may
have been rebuilt), and that from his dwelling there
it took the name of Poultney's Inn. Thirteen

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 135

years afterwards he disposed of it to Humfrey de
Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex. It afterwards
passed through many vicissitudes. Coming into
Royal hands, it was granted in the year 1410 by
Henry IV. to his eldest son, afterwards Henry V.,
and nearly a century afterwards was the temporary
residence of Margaret, Countess of Richmond,
mother of Henry VII. Here, on the marriage of
Prince Arthur with Catherine of Arragon, she enter-
tained the Lord Mayor and other civic dignitaries.
Given to the Talbots, Earls of Shrewsbury, the
sixth Earl, who was guardian of Mary Queen of
Scots for fifteen years and died in 1590, is said to
have taken it down and built a number of small
tenements on the site. Bishop Hall, Ben Jonson,
Nash, and others of their time, refer to the precinct
as a privileged place for debtors. Thus the first
named in his Satires, V. L, 1598, writes as
follows ; —

Or thence thy starved brother live and die,
Within the cold Coal Harbour sanctuary.

It SO continued until the special privileges which
had grown up in connection with it were abolished,
September 20, 1608, in the second charter granted
to the City of London by James I., wherein it is
described as the ** inn or liberty of Cold Herberge,

136 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

otherwise Cold Harburgh, and Cold Herburg
Lane." In spite of what the chroniclers tell us,
we learn from views that the river-front of the old
mansion remained in part until the Great Fire. The
Watermen's Company established themselves here
in the earlier part of the seventeenth century, and
after the Fire, built their Hall on the south-west
angle of the site. They sold it, about 1776, to the
proprietors of Calvert's, which already appears to
have occupied the adjoining site of a "great brew-
house built by one Pot " in the sixteenth century.
This long -established brewery is referred to in
Goldsmith's lines :

Where Calvert's butt, and Parson's black champagne.
Regale the bloods and drabs of Drury Lane.

The City of London Brewery, which succeeded
Calvert's, now occupies the site of Cold Harbour,
together with those of the churches and burial-
grounds of All Hallows the Great and All Hallows
the Less, portions of which remain.

Sir John de Pulteney's other residence in
London, although within but a short distance of
Cold Harbour, was quite a distinct property. This
was the house on the west side of Laurence
Poultney Hill which contained the crypt, until

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 137

lately in existence. Stow, when writing about
the Merchant Taylors' school, calls it the Manor
of the Rose. Sir John in his will mentions " my
principal Messuage, which I inhabit, in the parish of
St. Laurence of Candlewyk strete," and he leaves
it to his widow for her life, provided that she
remains unmarried, and afterwards to their only
son, William. The house has been confused with
Cold Harbour, because, like that, from having
been associated with him, it was called occasionally
Pulteney's Inn. How it acquired its later appella-
tion, " The Manor of the Rose," is an open question ;
but the title was perhaps associated in some way
with a curious tenure of Cold Harbour to which
Stow refers, namely, payment of a rose at Mid-
summer in lieu of services. Another suggestion
is that it originated in some party distinction
during the wars of York and Lancaster, as it is
called the Red Rose in a schedule of the lands of
Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham.

Be this as it may, the crypt on Laurence
Poultney Hill, which some of us knew so well,
had formed part of this mansion called by Stow
the Manor of the Rose, and if built by Sir John
de Pulteney, it must, from its style, have been in
the earlier part of his career, soon after 1322, when

138 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

he is already mentioned as a citizen of London.
In the fifteenth year of Edward III. (1341) Sir
John got licence to crenellate, that is to fortify
with battlements or crenelles, his mansion in
London, and this we believe to have been the house
on Laurence Poultney Hill, for the sixteenth-
century illustrations of it by Van den Wyngaerde
and Agas indicate an embattled building. At the
same time leave was granted him to crenellate his
house at Cheveley in Cambridgeshire, and his
famous mansion at Penshurst, Kent.

In the sixth year of Richard II., 1384, the
College of Corpus Christi at the Church of St.
Laurence Poultney, having come into possession
of this their founder's house, exchanged it for the
church at Napton which belonged to the Earl of
Arundel. Afterwards, during many years, while
princes and nobles were holding high court at the
neighbouring Cold Harbour, we hear little or
nothing of De Pulteney's "principall messuage."
Then, to judge from results, it seems to have been
an unlucky possession, several of its owners and
occupiers suffering death on the scaffold ; but this
was a common end of great people in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. It belonged for a time to
William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, who, having

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 139

been banished by the King, was cruelly beheaded at
sea in 1450, his dukedom being forfeited or falling
into abeyance. One of the treasonable acts of
which the Commons had accused him, was said to
have taken place in the parish of St. Laurence
Poultney. His son, John de la Pole, who married
Edward IV. 's sister, was re-created Duke of Suffolk
in 1463, but this property does not seem to have
been restored to him. It belonged, however, to Jm
son, Earl of Lincoln, at the time of his attainder
in 1483, and then reverted to the Crown, being
restored in 1495 to the De la Pole family in the
person of Edmund de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, on
whose forfeiture Henry VII. granted it in 1506 to
Edward Stafford, third Duke of Buckingham. It
was this nobleman, of great wealth and illustrious
descent, who, having been arrested on his barge on
the Thames when coming to London, as Hall the
chronicler tells us, was condemned for high treason
and executed in 1523, and who, as we have seen, is
enshrined in the play of Henry VIII., the lines
alluding to him, which we have quoted on a
previous page, being taken almost word for word
from Holinshed's Chronicle.

At this time Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk,
brother-in-law of the King, who has been men-

140 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

tioned in our chapter on Southwark, seems already
to have had a grant of the estate, but if so he
did not long hold it, for about four years after the
execution of Buckingham it was granted by the
Crown to Henry Courteney, Earl of Devon and
Marquis of Exeter. He was first cousin to the
King, which was almost enough to make him
a suspected person, and in due course he had the
not unusual fate, being beheaded on Tower Hill
in 1539. The last great nobleman to whom
the estate belonged was Thomas Radcliffe, Earl
of Sussex, who, early in Queen Elizabeth's
reign, sold it to John Hethe, citizen and cooper.
By him it was divided shortly afterwards into
two moieties, one of them being bought by
Richard Botyl, citizen and merchant taylor, and
the other by William Beswicke, citizen and
draper.

The parcel sold to Botyl comprised the west
gate-house, a long court or yard, the winding
stairs at the south end of the said court, and other
portions. All this was conveyed shortly after-
wards by Botyl to the Merchant Taylors' Company,
he having: acted in the transaction as their con-
fidential agent. The part sold to Beswicke included
the remainder of the mansion and the whole of the

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 141

garden, which must have been chiefly to the south
of it.

The Merchant Taylors' moiety, with an opening
into Suffolk Lane, was soon afterwards appropriated
to their grammar school, and continued so to be
used until in the Great Fire it was hopelessly
damaged by the flames. Afterwards rebuilt,
perhaps from the designs of Sir Christopher Wren,
and devoted to the same purpose, it was pulled
down in 1875, when the school migrated to the
old Charterhouse.

A prominent member of the Merchant Taylors'
Company, at one time master, was Patience Warde,
afterwards knighted, who appears to have taken
the lead in the arrangements for rebuilding the
schoolhouse, and held the office of Lord Mayor in
1680. The other part of De Pulteney's mansion
had passed to him about the middle of the
seventeenth century. He occupied this build-
ing, which, like the school, was no doubt almost
destroyed in the Great Fire, and having no
children, left his property on Laurence Poultney
Hill, which he says in his will cost him, " building
or otherwise," upwards of £5000, to his nephew
John Warde, merchant, who was also knighted
and also attained the highest civic office.

142 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

In course of time the Warde estate here was
inherited by that branch of the Warde family
which has long been settled at Squerries, near
Westerham. It included 3, 4, and 5 Laurence
Poultney Hill, and Laurence Poultney Place,
which is called in a plan attached to Noorthouck's
History of London (1773) " Sir Patient Ward's."
In 1859 and 1860 the estate was bought by
the Merchant Taylors' Company, they having,
it was said, some idea, never carried out, of
extending their school in this direction. In 1894
an ominous placard announced that the house
containing the crypt was to be let on building
lease. Considerable efforts were made to induce
the Merchant Taylors' Company to preserve a
relic of such remarkable interest, which was quite
sound and might easily have been built over.
However, these efforts were unavailing, and in
the course of that year the whole structure was
swept away. As to the purpose for which it had
originally served, the writer hazards the opinion
that the principal chamber was the undercroft of
the hall of the mansion known successively as
Pulteney's Inn or the Manor of the Rose, and
showed its ground plan, and that the passages
were under the passages separating the hall from

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 143

the kitchen, pantry, etc. In that case, the room
to the right would have been beneath the buttery,
or beneath a small parlour, while the modern stair-
case, and the space adjoining it, indicated the
position of other offices. Here perhaps also there
was an ancient staircase, giving communication
to the other parts of the building. It may be
mentioned incidentally that crypts beneath town
houses were common in mediasval times, and
various examples existed in London until quite
recently, one at least still remains. In Hudson
Turner and Parker's Domestic Architecture of the
Middle Ages, we are told how, in a lease of Pack-
man's Wharf, Thames Street, made in 1354-55,
the lessee, Richard Wyllesdon, covenanted to
build a chief dwelling-place above stairs, viz. a
hall 40 feet in length and 24 feet wide ; and a
parlour, kitchen, and buttery, as to such a hall
should belong, taking care that there should be
cellars 7 feet in height beneath the said hall,
parlour, kitchen, and buttery. The materials to
be used in the building generally were Maidstone
stone (presumably Kentish " rag ") and heart of oak.
We have kept for the end of the chapter, allusion
to the removal of Christ's Hospital from the site
of the old convent by Newgate Street, which re-

144 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

suited in the sale and clearance of the land, perhaps
the heaviest blow which has been dealt to lovers
of old London for many years. The historical
associations of the precinct were many and varied,
ranging from the time of the Grey Friars to that
of S. T. Coleridge and Charles Lamb, whose papers
called Recollections of Chris fs Hospital^ and Chris fs
Hospital Five-and' Thirty Years Ago, will perhaps
continue to give pleasure when the substantial
school buildings now erected at Horsham have
crumbled to decay.

The possessions here of the Franciscans or
Friars Minors, usually called the Grey Friars,
are described in a manuscript belonging to the
Cottonian collection in the British Museum, which
contains a register of those who were buried in
the church and cloister, a description of the convent
and of its various benefactions, and several other
documents, such for instance as a detailed account
of the Friars' water supply, starting from the point
where the pipe entered the convent, tracing it
along Holborn, up Leather Lane, and then to the
open country on the north-west, where the water
was gathered in a little stone building {domuncula
lapidea), which of late years had been entirely lost
sight of, until the present writer was fortunate

OF THE

UNIVER^JTY

OF
;£dLlFORN)^

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 145

enough to identify it with a conduit or well-head
still existing at the back of a house in Queen
Square, Bloomsbury.

We learn that the Franciscans first came to
England in 1224 ; they were nine in number, and
five of them remained at Canterbury, founding
there the first English Franciscan house. The
other four came to London, where they stayed for
a few days with the Black Friars or Dominicans,
and afterwards secured a house on Cornhill. In
the following summer, John Twyn, citizen and
mercer, settled them on land by Newgate, which,
because of the Franciscan vow of poverty, was
vested in the Commonalty of London for the use
of the Friars. By subsequent donations the site
of the convent grew, the last gift of land recorded
in the Cotton manuscript having been made in the
year 1353. It seems not to have reached the City
wall, nor did the western corner of Newgate Street
and what is now called King Edward Street ever
come into the hands of the Friars.

The building of the original church was carried
on during most of the thirteenth century ; but in
1306 Queen Margaret, second wife of Edward I.,
having given a considerable sum for the purpose,
a much larger church was begun, to which Queen

146 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Isabella, Queen Philippa, and other great person-
ages contributed ; the fabric seems to have been
finished in 1348. The glazing of the windows took
place later, and the stalls were added at the expense
of Margaret, Countess of Norfolk, about 1380.

After the Dissolution the convent was granted
by the king to the City authorities as a hospital for
poor, sick, and impotent persons, while the church,
under the name of Christchurch, became parochial.
The hospital of Henry VIII. was re-founded as
a school by Edward VI. in 1553, ten days before
his death. The old Grey Friars' buildings were
damaged in the Great Fire, and the church was
rebuilt by Wren about the year 1680, but shorn
of more than half its former size. It had been no
less than 300 feet long and 89 feet wide, covering
all the ground now occupied by Christchurch,
Christchurch Passage, and the present disused
burial-ground. Mr. E. B. S. Shepherd, an authority
on the subject, says that some notion of the appear-
ance of the great church of the friars may be gained
from the existing nave of the Austin Friars' church
near Old Broad Street, the immediate neighbour-
hood of which we have already visited. The bases
of three of the buttresses on the south side were
uncovered some years ago and described in vol. v.

SOME ANCIENT CITY RELICS 147

of the Journal of the -London and Middlesex
Archaeological Society,

Christ's Hospital contained all the site of the
Grey Friars' convent, except the ground occupied
by their church. The governors had also extended
their boundaries largely to the north and west,
taking in the site of the City wall and ditch lying
between their property and St. Bartholomew's
Hospital on the north, and on the west also the
site of the City wall, together with that of the
Giltspur Street Compter beyond it.

The ground plan of the Grey Friars' great
cloister remained until the end, together with a
few of the mediaeval cloister arches on the south
side, and along what is now Christchurch Passage
the friars passed to and fro for hundreds of years,
this having been the ancient way between church
and cloister. The other buildings of various dates
were very picturesque, the facade to the south
being an admirable specimen of Wren's work. A
piece of it from Christchurch Passage is shown in
our illustration of the school entrance. The stone
tablet beneath the statue of Edward VI. had an in-
scription which told us that this building had been
erected at the cost of Sir Robert Clayton in 1682.
The treasurer's house, still standing, for a short time.

148 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

with its ample garden intact, is full of charm.
There were few prettier interiors of its kind than
that of the court- room ; while the great hall,
although comparatively modern, was a fine struc-
ture which looked its best from the open railings
in Newgate Street, especially when the playground
in front was occupied by groups of Blue -Coat
boys in their quaint costume. To the interest and
beauty of these buildings the writer felt bound to
bear witness before a committee of the House of
Commons ; and he will always remember with a
pang of regret the time-hallowed precinct now
almost utterly effaced. One knows, however, the
enormous monetary value of land in London, and
that the authorities of Christ's Hospital were bound
to do the best they could on behalf of the young
generation.

Out of evil sometimes good may come. The
excavations which will of necessity take place on
the site now cleared of buildings can hardly fail to
add much to our knowledge of the Roman wall of
London, for those of its foundations which still
exist will be laid bare along the whole line of it,
from the north side of Newgate to King Edward
Street.

CHAPTER V

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT

'The whole great ward of Farindon, both infra and extra, took
name of W. Farindon, goldsmith, alderman of that ward, and one of
the sheriiFs of London in the year 1281." — J. Stow (1598).

The ward which gives a title to this chapter con-
tains all the part of London lying immediately
west of the old City wall. It includes the parishes
of St. Bartholomew the Great and St. Bartholomew
the Less, West Smithfield, St. Sepulchre's, St.
Andrew's, St. Dunstan's-in-the-West, and St.
Bride's, and early became of sufficient wealth and
importance to have its share in the municipal
government. In the year 1393 it was divided
from the parent ward of Farringdon Within, and
shortly afterwards John Fraunceys was elected its
first Alderman — an important reform effected at
the same time being the appointment of Aldermen
for life ; before this they had been elected annually.

149

150 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

A glance at old plans will show us that up
to the end of the sixteenth century much of
the northern part of this ward was still by
no means thickly populated. The first district
which we shall visit was, like Christ's Hospital,
the precinct of a great religious house. The
Priory of Austin Canons in West Smithfield,
dedicated to St. Bartholomew, was begun in the
year 1123, and in 1133 the king granted it a
charter of privileges. The founder, by name
Rahere, and perhaps of Frankish origin, had fre-
quented the dissolute court of William Rufus, and
Stow speaks of him quaintly as *' a pleasant- witted
gentleman, therefore in his time called the King's
Minstrel." Be this as it may, not earlier than
1120, having journeyed to Rome, he contracted
fever, and during convalescence vowed that he
would make a hospital "yn recreacion of poure
men." The apostle St. Bartholomew was said to
have appeared to him afterwards in a vision, and to
have desired the building of a church also, indicat-
ing Smithfield as the site. Accordingly, on his
return to England, he founded the priory with its
church and the hospital, presiding over the latter
for some years. He then retired into the priory,
where he died in 1144 and was buried on the north

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 151

side of the altar of the grand old priory church, now
known as St. Bartholomew the Great. An ancient
recumbent effigy of him under a Perpendicular
canopy is still to be seen in its original position.

At the dissolution of religious houses the choir
was reserved as a parish church, the nave which
had been used for that purpose being pulled down,
and its site turned into a churchyard. All the
rest of the ground and buildings, together with the
rights pertaining to the priory, were sold by the
King to Sir Richard Rich, then Speaker of the
House of Commons. Afterwards, as Lord Rich,
he converted the prior's lodging into his town-
house, and lived there when Lord Chancellor.
Henry II. had granted to the prior and canons the
privilege of holding an annual fair at Bartholomew-
tide, but it seems to have been in existence pre-
viously. To this fair resorted clothiers and drapers
not only from all parts of England but from foreign
countries, who here exposed their goods for sale,
stalls being set up within the priory churchyard,
the gates of which were locked at night. The site
is called Cloth Fair to this day. By the reign of
Queen Elizabeth it had ceased to be commercially
important, but became a great pleasure fair, the
three days being extended to fourteen, and the

152 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

place of assemblage being gradually transferred or
extended to Smitbfield. The fair used to be opened
by the Lord Mayor, and on these occasions it
was customary for him, while passing Newgate on
horseback, to refresh himself with " a cool tankard
of wine, nutmeg, and sugar," handed to him by the
keeper of Newgate, a practice which in 1688
proved fatal to Sir John Shorter, whose horse
took fright while he was in the act of drinking,
and gave him a fall from which he died soon
afterwards. In 1708 the period of the fair was
again limited to three days. By slow degrees it
dwindled away, but was not finally abolished until
1855. Morley, in his Memoirs of Bartholomew
Fair, says, "The sole existing vestige of it is
the old fee of three and sixpence still paid by the
City to the rector of St. Bartholomew the Great
for a proclamation in his parish." The streets
within the old precinct of the religious house still
retain an old-fashioned air ; some of the pictur-
esque houses evidently date from the earlier part
of the seventeenth century, if not before, but they
are fast disappearing. On No. 22 Cloth Fair is a
relic which carries us back to the time of the
Dissolution. This is the armorial shield of Richard
Rich, raised to the peerage in 1547, or perhaps of

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 153

one of his immediate descendants. It is surmounted
by a coronet, and may be described heraldically as,
gules, a chevron between three crosses botonnee
or. The church of St. Bartholomew the Great,
after getting into a bad state of dilapidation, has
of late years been elaborately restored. The ac-
quisition by the authorities of St. Bartholomew's
Hospital of a piece of the ground lately occupied
by the Blue-Coat School will lead sooner or later
to a general reconstruction of Rahere's foundation,
and the church of St. Bartholomew the Less is
fated soon to disappear. It is within the boundary
of the hospital, and has a Gothic tower much
modernised which contains one or two interesting
monuments.

Leaving this classic neighbourhood, we will now
revisit, alas ! only on paper, a delightful house of
entertainment, the old Bell, on the north side of
Holborn, one of many formerly to be found in that
thoroughfare ; it survived, however, to be the last
galleried inn on the Middlesex side of the river.
The following brief account of it was written when
the building still remained intact, being founded
on a careful examination of original documents
relating to the property.

The earliest mention of this house which appears

154 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

in the deeds is on the 14th of March 1538, when
WilHam Barde, for £40, sells a messuage with
garden called the Bell, in the parish of St. Andrew,
Holborn, to Richard Hunt, citizen and girdler.
This Richard Hunt, who died in 1569, gave thirty
sacks of charcoal yearly for ever, as a charge on
the property, to be distributed on St. Thomas's
Day to thirty poor persons, now represented by an
annual payment of £2 : 5s. from the ground land-
lords to St. Andrew's parish. In a deed poll of
1605 it is described as being "in the suburbes of
the cittie of London, between the tenement some-
time of John Davye on the east, and a tenement
heretofore of the Prior and convent of the late
dissolved Pryorie or Hospitall of our Ladie without
Bishopsgate on the west ; one head thereof ex-
tending upon the Kinges high waye of Holborne,
and the other head thereof upon the garden of Elie
place," — the London house of the Bishops of Ely,
the chapel of which, dedicated to St. Etheldreda,
still exists. As shown in Agas's well-known plan,
drawn probably about the year 1590, the garden of
Ely House extended as far as Leather Lane and a
considerable distance along it, leaving only space
for the houses in Holborn with their enclosures,
of which the Bell seems distinctly to be shown.

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 155

Even as late as 1799 the space behind them was
still open. After passing through various hands,
in 1679-80 the property came into the possession
of Ralphe Gregge, whose grandson Joseph finally
parted with it to Christ's Hospital in 1722. The
front part of the Bell was at that time subdivided,
for it is described as ** All that messuage or tene-
ment known by the name or sign of the Bell, with
all the erections or stables thereupon erected and
built, and all and singular other the appurtenances
thereunto belonging, and likewise all those two
other tenements, on either side next adjoining to
the first-named messuage, and fronting the High
Street of Holborn — all which said three messuages
were formerly one great mansion house or inn,
commonly known by the name of the Bell or Blew
Bell Inn."

About two years before the sale to Christ's
Hospital, the part of the premises facing Holborn
had been rebuilt, and on them were placed the
sculptured arms of the Gregges quartered with
those of Starkyes. They remained on the house
until its final destruction in 1897, and are now in
the Guildhall Museum. It seems that the owners
of the Bell were descended from the Gregges of
Bradley, Cheshire, one of whom had married

156 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Anne, co-heiress of Richard Starkye, of Stretton.
Sir Humphrey Starkey, Chief Baron of the
Exchequer in 1486, is thought to have belonged
to this family. The date of the rebuilding is not
recorded in any deed, but may perhaps be indicated
from the fact that at the time of the sale the land-
lord of the Bell was James Trinder, and that care-
fully incised on a brick near a first-floor window
which faced the yard was the name G. Trinder, and
date 1720. For their kindness in allowing him to
examine the deeds mentioned above, the writer
should record his obligation to the authorities of
Christ's Hospital.

It may here be remarked that the earlier deeds
do not inform one whether or not the house
was originally used as an inn "for the receipt of
travellers." But in 1637 it was undoubtedly so used,
for John Taylor in his Carriers Cosmographie says
that "the Carriers of Wendover in Buckingham-
shire do lodge at the Bell in Holborne," and that
" a Post Cometh there every second Thursday from
Walsingham." Towards the end of the seventeenth
century coaches were plying from here to Berk-
hamstead, Hampstead, and Hendon, and waggons
to Faringdon and Woodstock. From that time
until long after the advent of railways the Bell

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 157

continued to carry on the same quiet trade, fre-
quented by gentlefolks and commercial men of the
higher class, and used as a house of call for coaches,
waggons, and carriers. In the earlier part of the
nineteenth century the landlord was Mr. C. R.
Tinson, who seems to have done a capital posting
business ; his account -book is before me, which
records the prices paid for various post-chaises
ranging from £40 to £25 each. About 1836 the
coaching business at the Bell was in the hands
of Messrs. Home, the most famous coach pro-
prietors in London except William Chaplin.
Then, or soon after this time, it passed to
Mr. William Bunyer, who had married Tinson s
daughter and succeeded him as landlord. The
Bunyers were an old inn -keeping family ; one of
them had kept the Jerusalem Tavern, Clerkenwell,
in the latter part of the eighteenth century. The
last landlord of the Bell, Mr. A. C. Bunyer, was
bom here ; a little sketch of him appears in one of
our illustrations. As late as 1884 the old house
retained somewhat of its connection with coaching.
Mr. William Black thus introduces it into his
Strange Adventures of a Phaeton : ** Now from the
quaint little yard which is surrounded by frail
and dilapidated galleries of wood that tell of the

158 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

grandeur of other days, there starts a solitary
omnibus, which daily whisks a few country people
and their parcels to Uxbridge and Chalfont and
Amersham and Wendover." This faint echo of
the coaching days had latterly died out, but to the
end the stables and covered space at the back were
constantly occupied, the situation being convenient
for various persons who used to drive in from the
suburbs to transact their business.

A few words on the architectural features of
the old house will, we hope, not be considered
superfluous. The Bell was of the usual type of
galleried inns (although smaller than many), a type
which came perhaps originally from the East
and was at one time common on the Continent.
Approached through a narrow gateway, and a
passage under the front building, the total length
from the street to the back was not much over
a hundred feet. The ponderous gate had its
wicket, with a grating usually closed by a sliding
panel. Through this at night the traveller, having
announced his presence by the aid of a lion-head
knocker, was inspected, and no doubt might be
refused admission if unlikely to prove a desirable
inmate, reminding me of an arrangement common
in the south of Spain in my younger days, when a

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 159

long string fastened to the latch communicated
with a convenient spy -hole, whence the servant
having asked who was there, paused for the
customary reply — "a peaceable person" (gente de
paz) — ^before opening the door. The inn contained
several buildings more or less distinct, though
latterly united by doors and passages. To begin
with, there was the red brick structure in front
with its coat of arms, so well known to generations
of Londoners. The western part of this, latterly
occupied as a silversmith's shop, and numbered
124, was quite independent of the inn, and to it
belonged the attic, shown in views from the street,
and forming a fourth story. Perhaps the quaintest
feature about the interior of the front building
was the inn staircase with its panelling and turned
balusters. A recess in the wall facing the yard
contained a little painted statuette of the first
Napoleon, dating doubtless from the time when
"Boney's" marvellous career filled men's thoughts.
On entering the yard, what struck one was its
air of perfect repose, indescribably soothing after
the din and bustle of Holborn. Immediately to
the left, or on the west side, was a low three-storied
building of wood and plaster. Not ancient as
regarded the upper portion, though the beams in

160 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

the ceiling were of archaic type, the whole of its
basement was occupied by a cellar which was built
of stone with well-laid masonry ; doubtless it was
the oldest part of the Bell Inn that survived until
our time — a remnant of the "great mansion house'*
mentioned in one of our deeds, which might have
been the private dwelling of some high personage.
Next to the building on this basement was another
of the same material, somewhat higher, and having
its separate staircase like the last. Time had here
done its decaying work, and had caused the fabric
to lean over as shown in our drawing. It con-
tained in a first-floor room a wooden mantelpiece
with a pretty group of figures in relief. Then
came the galleries of the inn, which from the
picturesque point of view formed its chief attrac-
tion. They were at the end, and running partly
up the east side of the yard, not on three sides as
is often the case. Beyond and beneath was a
covered space, where vehicles could stand securely.
This galleried portion was of wood, with tiled roof,
dating perhaps from the reign of Charles II., and
may have replaced a more ancient building similar
in style. The rooms were not latterly used as
bedrooms, being perhaps too chilly for us degenerate
mortals of the present day. But to the last the

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 161

galleries had a cheerful air, and were adorned with
a profusion of well-kept plants and flowers. Here
was the old coach office ; here also and at the end
was the stabling. Next to the galleries, towards
the street on the east side, stood the brick frontage
of what was in part a wooden building, the ground
floor containing the coflee-room, with its quaint
portraits and green -curtained partitions. A draw-
ing of the room was made on September 24, 1897.
In the following week the furniture and fittings of
"the old Bell Hotel, No. 123 Holborn," were sold
by auction, and shortly afterwards it was levelled
with the ground.

Our view of the front of this inn shows on the
east or right-hand side, over the entrance to another
courtyard, the statue of a large and formidable
black bull pawing the ground, or rather his pedestal,
as if anxious to leap down and attack all comers.
This was the sign of another inn evidently of
some age, and mentioned as long ago as 1708 in
Hatton's New View of London, With regard to
fact, it does not seem to have been famous, but un-
doubtedly it had claims to a high place in fiction,
for it must have been here, though the colour
of the sign is not mentioned, that Mr. Lewsome
was *' took ill " and placed under the tender mercies

162 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

of Mrs. Gamp and Betsey Prig, who "nussed
together, turn and turn about." Looking out
through a window at this inn the immortal Sairey
"was glad to see a parapidge in case of fire, and
lots of roofs and chimney-pots to walk upon";
and in this yard, when convalescent, the invalid
was assisted into a coach, Mr. Mould, the under-
taker, eyeing him with regret as he felt himself
baulked of a piece of legitimate business. The
Black Bull descended peaceably from his pedestal
in 1901, and the old house to which he was attached
did not long survive the separation, but shortly
afterwards came to an end. Many a year had
passed since the yard resounded with the neighing
of horses, for the stables at the back disappeared
and the galleries were rebuilt and turned into tene-
ments long before.

Running to the north out of Holborn, a little
west of the site of these inns, is Leather Lane, an
ancient thoroughfare which, if narrow and dirty,
might also a few years ago have claimed to be pic-
turesque. Stow calls it " Lither Lane," and along
this, as we have seen, the water-pipe of the Grey
Friars was carried, until reaching the fields it turned
west towards th e mill of Thomas de Basynges. Here
now are the headquarters of the Italian colony.

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 163

members of which earn a scanty living as artists'
models, organ grinders, vendors of penny ices, and
in other by-paths of industry. On a Saturday
evening the market in this street would furnish
fine subjects for the artist, but perhaps it would
require a Rembrandt to do them justice. Our
illustration of Leather Lane, looking south towards
Holborn, represents it as it was in 1897. The
following year all the houses to spectator's right
were destroyed. The plastered one at the corner
was an old place of entertainment, known by the
sign of the Horse and Groom. According to a
statement on the board outside it was founded in
1730, but the building itself was clearly very much
older. Another view shows the back of this house,
access to which was obtained through an alley
or passage on the north side of Holborn, now
altogether obliterated, other houses along the
Holborn front having been destroyed, among them
another old coaching and posting inn called the
Bell and Crown.

The next turning out of Holborn, west of
Leather Lane on the same side, is Brooke Street,
which derives its name from Fulke Greville, Lord
Brooke, "servant to Queen Elizabeth, counseller
to King James, and friend to Sir Philip Sidney,"

164 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

for here was his London residence. In Stow's
time it had been **the Earl of Bath's inn, now
called Bath place, of late for the most part new
built." In 1630 Brooke House was fitted up
at the expense of the Crown for the French
ambassador, and again in 1658 representatives
of the French Government were lodged there,
and "entertained at the charge of his High-
ness," Oliver Cromwell. It is marked in Ogilby
and Morgan's plan of 1677 ; but, fashion moving
west, Brooke Street (where Chatterton ended his
short life) and Brooke Market were formed on
the site, the latter described by Wheatley and
Cunningham as " now a very low neighbourhood."
The writer, however, while sketching White Hart
Yard, which opens into it through a passage on the
west, was struck chiefly by the quiet countrified
air of the old wooden house, where milk "fresh
from the cow" may still be bought, also eggs,
butter, and other articles of consumption, and a
creditable portrait of the cow herself adorns the
front of the establishment, which claims to have
been opened in 1790.

We will now retrace our steps along Holborn,
and turn down Fetter Lane on the south side.
Passing two or three gabled buildings on the right

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 165

hand, to which reference will again be made, we
soon come to the site of another of the old coaching
inns with which this neighbourhood once abounded.
Marked in the plan of 1677, an interesting glimpse
of it in its palmy days, and at the same time of the
manners of the latter part of the eighteenth century,
has been given by the great Lord Eldon. His story
relates to the year 1766 ; he shall tell it in his own
words : " After I got to town," he says, " my
brother, now Lord Stowell, met me at the White
Horse in Fetter Lane, Holborn, then the great
Oxford House as I was told. He took me to see
the play at Drury Lane. When we came out of
the house it rained hard. There were then few
hackney coaches, and we got both into one sedan
chair. Turning out of Fleet Street into Fetter
Lane there was a sort of contest between our
chairman and some persons who were coming up
Fleet Street, whether they should first pass Fleet
Street or we in our chair first get out of Fleet
Street into Fetter Lane. In the struggle the
sedan chair was overset with us in it." There is
a well-known coloured print by J. Pollard, dated
1814, of a coach called the Cambridge Telegraph
starting from the White Horse. Not much more
is to be said about this old inn, which gradually

166 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

fell into decay, and had a similar fate to others of
its class already described. The ground floor in
front was used for the purposes of a tavern, while
the rest of the building became a cheap lodging-
house, known as White Horse Chambers. Our
sketch, done shortly before the demolition in
1897-98, shows the back part of the gateway from
Fetter Lane, a convenient covered porch or re-
cessed entrance to the inn being on spectator's
right. The greater part of the fabric seemed to
date from the beginning of the eighteenth cen-
tury, but there were remains of an earlier wooden
structure. The long passage running parallel with
the precinct of Barnard's Inn, communicated with
a yard which had ample stables at the back. The
scheme of rebuilding involved the clearance of all
the old property between Fetter Lane and Fur-
nival Street, the greater part of the ground being
occupied by this roomy old inn. We are reminded
that other establishments with this sign have
flourished and disappeared in London. It was
not until last spring or summer that the Old
White Horse Cellars were involved in the de-
struction of the Bath Hotel, Piccadilly (where
Gustave Dore breathed his last), having survived
the New White Horse Cellars on the opposite

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 167

side of the street, pulled down in 1884 with
Hatchett's Hotel, of which they formed part. If
it may have been at the Old White Horse Cellars
that, by order of Mr. Pickwick, Sam Weller
took five places in the coach for Bath, it was
certainly in front of the younger establishment
that we have seen Tom and Logic bidding
good-bye to Jerry on his return to Hawthorn
Hall ; and the front of this coach office is also
shown in a caricature by George Cruikshank
called "a Piccadilly Nuisance." But we are
digressing, and must make our way back to
Fetter Lane.

A little south of the White Horse in that
street there stood until lately a most picturesque
greengrocer's shop, and close at hand on the
opposite side is Nevill's Court, Fetter Lane. We
will not trouble ourselves with the nomenclature
of this quaint alley which in most accounts of the
district is derived from Ralph Nevill, Bishop of
Chichester from 1222 until 1244 ; but although
he built a palace on the west side of Chancery
Lane, afterwards occupied by the Society of
Lincoln's Inn, and we have thereabouts hints
of episcopal occupation in Bishop's Court and
Chichester Rents, there is no evidence, as far as

168 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

the writer is aware, of his having owned the land
which now forms Nevill's Court, and it is likely
to have been named after much later Nevills who
are known to have lived in Fetter Lane. Nevill's
Court, a mere passage running from Fetter Lane
to Great New Street, is interesting to us because
in part at least it escaped the Great Fire, and still
has quaint old buildings with open space in front,
formerly well inhabited, one of them, indeed, occu-
pied by rather famous people. Here on the south
side stands a large brick house. No. 10, with garden
in front, which from its appearance would seem to
have been built in the latter part of the seven-
teenth century, and as long ago as 1744 passed into
the hands of that remarkable sect, the Moravians
or United Brothers, who, tracing their origin to
the followers of John Huss, were expelled by
persecution from Bohemia and Moravia at the
beginning of the eighteenth century, and of whom
a small number settled on the estate of Count
Zinzendorf in Saxony about 1722, he himself
joining the brotherhood and becoming virtually
its leader ; he first visited London in 1737.
No. 10, when bought by the Moravians, was
called "the great house in Neville's Alley."
Used for many years as their mission home and

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 169

minister's house, it was the residence of Henry,
55th Count Reuss, and of the Rev. C. J. La Trobe,
who, besides being eminent as a minister of religion,
was also a musical composer. His son, Charles
Joseph La Trobe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of
Victoria, was born there in 1801. The earliest
account of Moravian missions was issued from this
house in 1790. It has, we fear, seen its best days,
but although for some time about the year 1897
a board was up announcing that the ground would
be let on building lease, it does not appear at
present to be threatened with destruction. The
Moravians have their chapel hard by, with access
from Nevill's Court, and also through the office of
their church and mission agency at 32 Fetter Lane.
On November 6, 1904, the 162nd anniversary of
the congregation was celebrated.

To the minds of those not belonging to the
Moravian community, the most famous place in or
about London with which they have been con-
nected is Lindsey House, Chelsea, once the home
of the ducal family of Ancaster, which was bought
by Count Zinzendorf in 1750 and remodelled, a
chapel with minister's house being built and a
burial-ground laid out at the back on part of
the grounds of Beaufort House, another ancient

170 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Chelsea mansion. The Count planned an important
Moravian settlement there, but for some reason the
scheme fell through. After a time Lindsey House,
having been re-sold, was divided into several dwell-
ings, occupied during the last century by several
men of mark, among them the two Brunels, father
and son, and J. A. M. Whistler. The burial-ground
is still held by the Moravians.

The " great house " in Fetter Lane is the most
important one to be found there, but an older
block of buildings is that at the north-east corner,
now numbered 13, 14, and 15. With plastered
walls and projecting upper storeys, they might
have been built at any time between the middle of
the sixteenth and the middle of the seventeenth
century, and an examination of old plans confirms
the notion of their antiquity, for it is clear that the
fire of 1666, although it raged close at hand, spared
this particular angle. The quaint little gardens
still remaining in front doubtless helped to isolate
it. Before quitting the immediate neighbourhood
of Fetter Lane, we might mention that an old
house. No. 16 in this street, had the folio wing-
inscription, the chief statement of which was
accepted as true by Sir Leslie Stephen : " Here
liv'd John Dryden, ye Poet, Born 1631, Died

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 171

1700. Glorious John." It stood near the south
end, by Fleur-de-Lis Court, and was pulled down
in 1887.

Fetter Lane runs into Fleet Street, and we
will now say something about the old houses of
entertainment in this historic thoroughfare, one
of the main connecting links between the City
of London and the west end. Just as South wark,
Bishopsgate Street, Holbom, and Whitechapel
were famous for their coaching and posting inns,
Fleet Street, which only possessed one historic
hostelry of this kind, namely, the Bolt-in-Tun,
was for a long time the headquarters of taverns
and coffee-houses, where fops and students, men
of letters and men of fashion, met and enjoyed
that "oblivion of care and freedom from solici-
tude" which, for most of us, have such powerful
attraction. To mention one or two of these
old houses of entertainment. It was at the Devil
Tavern that Ben Jonson held sway over his
literary children ; the rules of his club, in golden
letters, and the bust of Apollo, are still preserved
at Messrs. Child and Co.'s banking-house. The
Mitre Tavern is known by name to all who have
read BoswelFs Life of Dr, Johnson, the study of
which forms part of a liberal education. The

172 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

house itself, No. 39, became Macklin's Poets'
Gallery in 1788, and lastly Saunders's Auction
Rooms. It was pulled down many years ago, on
the rebuilding of Messrs. Hoare's banking-house,
to enlarge the site. The present Mitre Tavern
in Mitre Court has no connection with it. The
llainbow, modernised many years ago, but still
flourishing, was opened about 1656 by James Farr,
previously a barber, being the second coffee-house
established in London. Next year he was pro-
secuted by the "Inquest" of St. Dunstan's-in-the-
West ** for making and selling a sort of liquor called
coffee as a great nuisance and prejudice of the neigh-
bourhood." In spite of this he soon got together
a good connection, among his customers being Sir
Henry Blount, who, we are told, from their first
introduction frequented coffee-houses, "especially
Mr. Farr's, at the Kainbowe." In the next chapter
we shall point out how Nando's, early established
under the same roof, was at length merged in
the Rainbow. It now only remains to say that
here the Johnson Club has more than once dined
wisely and well, and that it is now the home of
" Y® Antient Society of Cogers," which here carries
on its miniature parliament.

Perhaps even more famous than the last-named

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 176

house of entertainment was the Cock, on the north
side of Fleet Street, near Temple Bar. Samuel
Pepys, at one time a great frequenter of taverns,
records several visits to it, the most memorable
one perhaps being that on 23rd April 1668, when he
gave his wife just cause for jealousy by entertaining-
Mrs. Pierce and the fascinating Mrs. Knipp at a
lobster supper, and afterwards taking boat with
** Knipp" at the Temple, "it being darkish, and
to Fox Hall, it being now night." The sign
was originally double, as is shown from the
following advertisement which appeared in the
Intelligencer during the Plague time of 1665 :
"This is to certify that the Master of the Cock
and Bottle, commonly called the Cock Ale-
house at Temple Bar, hath dismissed his servants
and shut up his house for this long vacation,
intending (God willing) to return at Michaelmass
time, so that all persons who have any accounts or
farthings belonging to the said house are desired
to repair thither before the 8th of this instant July
and they shall receive satisfaction." The allusion
to farthings has reference to the trade token issued
by this house, which is of extreme rarity, only
three specimens being known. The inscription on
it reads thus : —

174 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Obverse, — the • cock • ale • hovse = a cock.
Reverse, — at • temple • barr • 1655 = H. M. C.

Strype tells us, in 1720, that ''the Cock Alehouse,
adjoining to Temple Bar, is a noted publick-house."
From that time onwards it was much frequented,
especially by lawyers, but most men who have
made London their home, and are past a certain age,
have been inside the long, low dining-room with its
curtained boxes, and know the Jacobean chimney-
piece and the carved and gilded chanticleer over the
door, which might have been fashioned by Grinling
Gibbons. These relics indeed can still be seen at the
modern Cock on the opposite side of Fleet Street.
It is to Tennyson that we owe the most abiding
memorial of the old tavern, in his lines called
" Will Waterproofs Lyrical Monologue, Made at
the Cock," which, as Mr. Percy Fitzgerald has
well said, give no actual description, but convey,
with extraordinary charm, an idea of the tone of
the place, and of the fancies it is likely to engender
in some solitary frequenter. It is "only a great
poet who could evolve a refined quintessence from
the mixed vapours of chops and steaks." That
the late Poet Laureate frequently dined here when
a young man is a well-known fact. To give one

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 175

instance. In the Personal Reminiscences of the late
Sir Frederick Pollock, vol. i. p. 87, he says that he
finds recorded in the year 1837, "a visit to the pit
of the Olympic with Spedding and Tennyson, after
having dined together at the Cock in Fleet Street."
Another famous frequenter of the place was Charles
Dickens.

The later vicissitudes of the Cock need not
long detain us. In the year 1867 there was a
rumour of its impending destruction, to make way
for the approach to the new Law Courts, but it
remained unchanged till 1882, when the buildings
in front were taken down, the Cock, like several
other Fleet Street taverns and coffee-houses, being
at the end of a long passage. Next year a jury
awarded £19,698 for the freehold and goodwill of
the house, which passed into the hands of the
Commissioners of Sewers, and in 1885 the site
was purchased by the authorities of the Bank of
England, who have here established their branch
bank. They did not at once begin to build, the
old tavern remaining open until April 10, 1886,
and its contents being sold on the 18th of May.
One of the tankards was presented as a souvenir
to Lord Tennyson. The only house of the kind
left in thoroughly genuine condition is the Cheshire

176 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Cheese, Wine Office Court, Fleet Street, which
is not dissimilar in appearance, and equally pictur-
esque. Long may it flourish in the sympathetic
hands of the present proprietor.

We shall, perhaps appropriately, finish our
remarks in this chapter by a few words on Temple
Bar, which, until the year 1878, was such a
prominent landmark, forming as it did the later
limitation of the City ; the original boundary in this
direction had of course been Ludgate. In the
words of Strype : " Temple Bar is the place where
the freedom of the City of London and the Liberty
of the City of Westminster doth part; which
separation was anciently only Posts, Rails, and a
Chain, such as now are at Holbourn, Smithfield,
and Whitechapel Bars. Afterwards there was a
House of Timber, erected across the street, with a
narrow gateway, and an entrance on the south side
of it under a house." This gate, of which a drawing
is given by Hollar in his large map of London,
came to an end shortly after not in the Great
Fire, and was re-erected from the designs of Wren.
It was built of Portland stone, and had on the east
side statues of James L and his wife. Queen Anne
of Denmark, and to the west those of Charles I.
and Charles II. The room above the gateway was

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 177

latterly hired by Messrs. Child and Co., whose bank
adjoined it. An old custom always observed at
Temple Bar was the closing of the gates whenever
royalty had occasion to pass through them from
the court end of London. On the arrival of the
royal equipage a herald sounded a trumpet, another
herald knocked, and after certain words had been
exchanged the gates were thrown open, and the
Lord Mayor handed the City sword to his Sovereign,
who graciously handed it back. This or a similar
ceremony was used by Cromwell when he dined in
the City on June 7, 1649 ; the last observance of it
was on the occasion of the visit of Queen Victoria
to St. Paul's on February 27, 1872, when she
attended the thanksgiving service for the recovery
of his present Majesty from typhoid fever.

For many years the mangled remains of those
who had been executed were exposed at Temple Bar.
Its last adornments of this kind are said to have been
the heads of Towneley and Fletcher, Jacobites,
which fell down, the first in April 1772, and the
other shortly afterwards. Towneley 's head appears
to have been secretly removed. " I remember once,"
said Dr. Johnson, " being with Goldsmith in West-
minster Abbey. While we surveyed the Poets*
Corner I said to him : —

178 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

" Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur istis.

** When we got to the Temple Bar he stopped
me, pointed to the heads upon it, and slily
whispered : —

" * Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur istis.'' "

This was in allusion to Johnsons Jacobite
tendencies, which, in later life were much assuaged
by the mollifying influence of a pension.

It was found at length that Temple Bar was
not sufficiently wide for the requirements of modern
traffic. For some unknown reason also the news-
papers took to decrying this finely proportioned
building as an eyesore, and when in addition its
foundations began to show signs of weakness, a
result of the removal of neighbouring houses, one
felt that there was no chance of pleading with
success for the preservation of our last City gate-
way. It was taken down in 1878-79, and after the
stones, which number about a thousand, had been
lying exposed to the weather for nearly ten years,
they were presented to Sir Henry Meux and re-
erected at Cheshunt so as to form an entrance to
his park there, part of the once regal manor of
Theobalds. The "Temple Bar Memorial," which
blocks the end of Fleet Street almost as much as

THE WARD OF FARRINGDON WITHOUT 179

did Temple Bar, was erected in 1880 to mark the
old site, being unveiled by the late Prince Leopold,
afterwards Duke of Albany. The strange creature
guarding its summit is usually called "the griffin,"
but is said to be a dragon by those who understand
heraldic zoology.

CHAPTER VI

ABOUT THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY

''This same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to me of the
wildness of his youth. — I do remember him at Clements' Inn like a
man made after supper of a cheese paring,"

Shakespeare, King Henry IV. Part II.

The division of our book into chapters is one mainly
of convenience, for the various subjects referred to
are sometimes so intimately connected that it is
difficult to classify them. Thus incidentally we are
now about to describe two old buildings both in or
by Fleet Street, and both long used as taverns, but
also very much connected with the great legal
Societies of the Temple.

Most of those who care for the architectural
relics of old London are familiar with No. 17
Fleet Street, extending over the Inner Temple
Gate, which, through the energetic action of the
London County Council, aided by the City authori-
ties, has been secured, in part at least, from de-

180

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 181

struction. With the exception of Crosby Hall
(unless we include part of the Charterhouse build-
ings) it is perhaps the oldest house in the City
and, from its artistic features alone, well worthy of
preservation. Besides it has an interesting history,
and one not easy to unravel. I shall therefore
venture to repeat to some extent what was said by
me on the subject in articles contributed to vols. i.
and ii. of the Home Counties Magazine,

First as to the actual structure. The house,
until a few years ago, occupied a considerable space
along the east side of Inner Temple Lane, but the
back portion with one staircase had already been
pulled down before it was suggested that there
should be an attempt to save the far more interest-
ing part that remains. The massive rusticated
arch, facing the end of Chancery Lane, with the
Pegasus of the Inner Temple on the spandrels,
is thoroughly Jacobean in character, as are the
carved wooden panels between the first and second
floor windows, two of which are ornamented
with plumes of feathers ; but all the rest of the
front, as it now appears, is of comparatively recent
date. Inside, fortunately, there are fragments
which prove to us what was the appearance of the
original building. The front of the first story,

182 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

overhanging the ground floor and archway to some
extent, but not so much as at present, had carved
pilasters at the sides, and two bay windows with
transoms, which were divided in the middle by a
similar pilaster. The second story projected 9^
inches beyond the first, the bay windows being
carried up. Here again a fragment of a carved
pilaster has been found, and remains of the other two
are probably in existence behind the modern house
front. There is a view of the building with the
windows unaltered, which appears on a map or plan
engraved by George Vertue in 1723, and on another
issued by Bowles late in the eighteenth century.

When the house was remodelled, now long ago,
the old front was completely covered and concealed
by a new one, brought slightly forward and pro-
jecting equally before the rooms of the first and
second floors, the bays being removed. The
present flat windows were inserted, and the original
panels rearranged. On the first floor there is a
space of about 1 foot 9 inches between the
old front and the present one The top story or
attic, structurally but little changed, consists of
two gables with their tiled roofs shghtly hipped.
This hipping back, however, is a modern alteration,
as is proved by an engraving of Prattent's in the

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 183

European Magazine for 1786, where the bay
windows have already disappeared, but the points
of the gables are not hipped. The gables stand
back about 7 feet from the frontage of the
second floor ; thus there is a platform, which in
Prattent's view is shown protected by a railing with
turned balusters, and must have formed a pleasant
adjunct to the house ; but all this is now concealed
by a screen of a more or less temporary nature,
covered in so as to form a small front room. The
old gabled houses near St. Dunstans Church,
numbered 184 and 185 Fleet Street, had platforms
of a similar kind. The platform or gallery of the
wooden house in Bishopsgate Street Without was
mentioned in our second chapter.

Passing through the shop, from which all trace
of age has been eliminated, one mounts by a stair-
case with large turned balusters to the first floor,
where is a room facing the street and occupying the
whole width of the house. It is nearly square,
being about 23 feet in length from east to
west, about 20 feet in breadth and 10 feet 6
inches high. This room contains two features of
very great interest. The west end has fine oak
panelhng, while its frieze or cornice, and two
carved pilasters of the same material, are good

184 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

examples of early seventeenth - century design,
but the glory of the room is the plaster ceiling
elaborately decorated. Ornament of the kind so
well exemplified in this ceiling did not come into
fashion in England until the time of Henry VIII.,
being first produced by Italians at his palace of
Nonsuch, the external plaster work of which is
mentioned by John Evelyn in his diary, and is
also shown in a view by Hoefnagel. The first
Englishman, I believe, who is known to have
practised this art was Charles Williams, who in
1547 offered his services at Longleat to supply
internal plaster decorations "after the Italian
fashion," he may have been employed at Nonsuch.
Our English plasterers soon learned to excel ; they
travelled about the country, and most houses of
importance built during the reigns of Elizabeth
and James I. were partly adorned with their work.
Some of the late Gothic roofs of Henry VII. s
reign, with their radiating ribs and pendants, at
first no doubt helped to give suggestions. In the
ceilings, however, geometric patterns of projecting
ribs as a rule formed the basis of the designs,
which soon became highly varied, emblems, armorial
bearings, and personal devices being used to fill up
vacant spaces. At first the ribs were plainly

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 185

moulded after the manner of groin ribs, but later
their flat surfaces were ornamented. The ceiling
of No. 17 Fleet Street is of this kind. In what
seems to have been the centre of the chief design,
enclosed by a star-shaped border, are the Prince of
Wales's feathers, with the motto " Ich Dien " on a
scroll beneath, and the letters P. H. Surrounding
the centre is a well-arranged system of geometric
patterns with appropriate ornament. Along the
south side of the room a series of small, oblong
panels occur ; on one of them are the arms of the
Vintners' Company — a chevron between three tuns.
There is no record of the Vintners having been con-
nected with the Gate-house ; but perhaps its first
owner belonged to this Guild, for we know that
one of his executors — Ralph Marshe — was a
vintner. The ceiling is now coloured throughout,
and although the paint has no doubt been renewed
again and again, and the delicacy of the ornament
is therefore somewhat obliterated, one must bear in
mind that there is here something of the original
effect, for in the old stucco work colour and gild-
ing were largely employed. Spenser reminds us of
this in his well-known lines : —

Gold was the parget, and the ceiUng bright
Did shine all scaly with great plates of gold.

186 LONDOxN VANISHED AND VANISHING

A striking characteristic of the Fleet Street ceiling
is the marvellous tenacity with which it holds
together, although in parts it has sunk many inches.
This is owing to the fine quality of the plaster, far
superior to any now produced, perhaps also to an
admixture of hair and of some glutinous substance.
A strip of decorative plaster work at the east end
has disappeared, the ceiling in this part being now
unadorned. There is, however, just space for
sufficient ornament to make it correspond with that
which is opposite. The mantelpiece of wood and
marble, at the east end of the room, dates from the
eighteenth century, which is also the case with the
panelling at that end. The panelling on the south
side, although not precisely similar, is also of the
eighteenth century ; the wall here is partly an
external one, the room extending over the Inner
Temple Gateway.

But it is time to turn to the historical associa-
tions of this old Gate-house. That part of the
district lying between Fleet Street and the Thames,
which is called the Temple, was the home of the
Knights Templars in London from 1184 until the
early part of the fourteenth century. Not long
after their downfall it came to the Knights of St.
John of Jerusalem, by whom the Inner and Middle

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 187

Temples were leased to the students of the Common
Law. No change in this tenure took place when
at the dissolution of religious houses the property
passed to the Crown; but in 1608 James I., by
letters patent, granted it at a nominal rent to
certain high legal officials and to the benchers and
their successors for ever. There is a tradition that
in Wolsey's young days, when he came to take
possession of the benefice of Lymington in Hamp-
shire, Sir Amyas Paulet clapped him in the stocks,
and that during his Chancellorship many years
afterwards, in revenge for the indignity which had
once been put upon him, he ordered Paulet, then
treasurer of the Middle Temple, not to quit London
without leave, and so the latter lived in the Temple
for five or six years. To propitiate Wolsey, when
the gate was restored he is said to have placed
over the front of it the Cardinal's arms, hat, and
other insignia. This tends to show the early exist-
ence of the Middle Temple Gate-house, which was
rebuilt by Wren as it now appears in 1684.

The Inner Temple Records tell us how at a
meeting of the Temple authorities in 1538-39, " hit
was agreid that a nue gate shalbe made comyng
from the streitt to the Tempell." It does not
appear, however, to what gate this applies. In the

188 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

plan of London attributed to Ralph Agas, which is
thought by the best authorities to have been pre-
pared not earlier than the year 1591, the Middle
Temple Gate-house and Lane are marked quite
distinctly, but there are no signs of an Inner Temple
Gate-house. Nevertheless one probably existed
before, as seems proved by the Inner Temple
Records, a Calendar of which has within the last
few years been printed under the able editorship of
the late Mr. F. A. Inderwick, K.C. It therein
appears that at a meeting of the authorities of the
Inner Temple, held on June 10, 1610, John Bennet,
one of the King's sergeants-at-arms, petitioned
that the Inner Temple Gate " may be stopped up
for a month or six weeks, in order that it may be
rebuilt, together with his house called the Prince s
Arms, adjoining to and over the said gate and lane,
and that he may jettie over the gate towards the
street." He seems to have submitted a plan, and
offered to renew the gates on condition that he had
the old ones. His request having been granted,
the work was soon afterwards carried out.

This document therefore shows clearly the age
of the present Gate-house, and the circumstances
under which it was built, with its stories " jettying "
or jutting over the pavement in front. It also

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 189

furnishes an explanation of the plumes of feathers,
outside and on the ceihng, and of the initials P. H.,
which apply to Henry, elder son of James I., and
Prince of Wales when the house was rebuilt, and
would have been put up there in compliment to
him. For although it is true that, strictly speak-
ing, a plume of feathers borne in a coronet repre-
sents the Prince's badge and not his arms, sufficient
reason for their existence here is doubtless supplied
by the fact that, as appears from the above extract,
the house on this site, even before the present
structure, was called the Prince's Arms.

There is, nevertheless, a strong belief that this'
house. No. 17 Fleet Street, was originally the office
and council chamber of the Duchy of Cornwall, and
the reason for this, apart from, or in addition to, the
presence of the plumes of feathers and initials,
is the fact that seventeenth -century documents
mention a "Prince's Council Chamber" in Fleet
Street. One with this heading is referred to in
the Calendar of State Papers, vol. x., 1619-23.
Perhaps even more important is a proclamation
dated 1635, and now at the Record Office, which
runs thus : — Our pleasure is " that those of our
subjects who seek to have defective titles made
good shall, before Hilary term next, repair to our

190 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

now Commissioners at a house in Fleet Street,
where our Commissioners for our Revenue while we
were Prince of Wales did usually meet." There
are also copies of minutes of the year 1617 referring
to "the Counsell Chamber in Fleete Streete."

It should, however, be said that careful search at
the Record Office and at the present Office of the
Duchy of Cornwall has failed to reveal a single
document connecting this or any other house in
Fleet Street with Henry, Prince of Wales, whose
death had occurred in 1612, while no records of
the kind referred to are dated before the year 1617.
On the other hand, there is strong reason for
supposing that the Council of the Duchy of Corn-
wall, during the earlier part of the seventeenth
century, had no regular office, but transacted its
business in various hired, leased, or lent places.
Thus letters and minutes of 1615 and 1616 were
written at a house in Salisbury Court (near the
bottom of Fleet Street). November 25, 1617, is
the date of a meeting at "the Dutchie House"
which is mentioned again in the following year,
while a letter of February 22, 1619-20, relating to
the affairs of the Duchy, is signed at Whitehall,
and in 1622 and 1623 papers of a similar kind are
dated from "the Counsell Chamber at Denmark

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 191

House in the Strand." Some documents relating
to the Duchy were issued at Windsor and other
places away from London. If the Duchy had
possessed a house of its own for the transaction
of business, that house would have been sold by
the Parliament between 1646 and 1650 as King's
or Prince's forfeited property, or at least would
have been mentioned in the careful survey of
the Duchy's possessions then made and still in
existence. But there is no record forthcoming of
the Duchy having either owned or rented a house
in Fleet Street. The most that we can say at
present, pending the possible discovery of further
documents, is that on and off, from 1617 to 1625,
the Commissioners of the Duchy of Cornwall,
afterwards until 1641 or later the Commissioners
of the King's Revenue, met at an office in Fleet
Street, and that this office, lent or hired, may per-
haps have been at times the handsomely decorated
first-floor room of the Inner Temple Gate-house,
built by John Bennett on the site of his previous
house called the Prince's Arms ; the sign being
accounted for by the fact that until the latter part
of the eighteenth century the plan of numbering
houses not having been invented, each one had
its special designation. I would add that it was

192 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

not an uncommon practice at the time to work
into the design of a stuccoed ceiling the armorial
bearings of Royal personages. Thus, to give but
one instance, on the ceiling of the well-known
house formerly at the north-east corner of Shoe
Lane and denominated Holborn or Old-bourn Hall
were (within just such a starlike border as that
containing the Prince's feathers in Fleet Street) in
the centre the Royal arms encircled by a garter,
with the initials of James I., namely, I. R., and a
crown above, the date in one corner being 1617,
yet this was certainly never more than a manor
house. A house of minor importance, which
formerly stood in Whitechapel, was decorated
externally with the Prince of Wales's feathers and
other insignia. One may add that the design of
the Inner Temple Gate-house has sometimes been
attributed to Inigo Jones, partly because in 1610
he was appointed Surveyor to Henry, Prince of
Wales ; but as the house was built, not for the
Prince, but for John Bennett, this fact does not
increase the probability of its being his work.

The Gate-house was from the first a freehold in
the parish of St. Dunstan's-in-the-West. At the
same time, owing to the facts that it stood over
the Inner Temple Lane and extended for some

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 19S

distance along its east side, the authorities of the
Inner Temple had certain rights over it. Un-
fortunately no early deeds of this house are forth-
coming, nor can much allusion to it be found until
the eighteenth century. Long before this, however,
there was a shop here, apparently forming part of
the structure. Proof of its existence is found in
the title-page of Thomas Middleton's Comedy, A
Mad World my Masters, a, second edition of
which, published in 1640, was "to be sold by James
Becket at his Shop in the Inner Temple Gate."

In 1665 the back part, if not the whole building,
must already have been used as a tavern, with a
sign which it retained until quite late in its history.
During that year one Monsieur Anglers advertises^
his famous remedies for stopping the plague, to be
had at Mr. Drinkwater's at the Fountain, Inner
Temple Gate, "down the passage." The Inner
Temple Records give various references to the
house, chiefly relating to the power of control
over the windows. Thus among the Bench order;*
is one of 1693, that the owner should attend, to
make out his title to the windows of the Fountain
Tavern that look into the Temple. Afterwards
the windows were blocked, but on petition of
Edward Dixon, the vintner, who acknowledged

194 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

** the right of the Society in permitting the lights
of the house that are next the Inner Temple
Lane," the obstruction was removed, and " in con-
sideration thereof," Dixon agreed to pay 2s. 6d. a
year rent, and to set apart for the benchers the
use of the best room in his house on the occasion
of any public show. This may be accepted as a
proof that the room on the first floor, with the
fine ceiling and panelling shown in our illustration,
then formed part of the tavern, for it must have
been the best room in the house facing Fleet
Street. There are various records showing that
the authorities of the Inner Temple exercised their
privilege.

From Browne Willis's account I learn that,
having first tried the Bear in the Strand and the
Young Devil Tavern in Fleet Street, the Society
of Antiquaries, or perhaps one should say those
who, after a long interval, were engaged in the task
of reviving it, about the year 1709, met at the
Fountain Tavern, as one " went down into the Inner
Temple against Chancery Lane." In 1739 their
place of assembly was the no less historic Mitre.

During many years Fleet Street was noted for
exhibitions of various kinds, and the old Gate-house
was formerly occupied by one, a short account

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 195

of which may here be appropriately inserted.
Perhaps the most famous waxwork exhibition
before Madame Tussaud's was that first formed
by Mrs. Salmon, which in the days of Queen Anne
was to be seen at the " Golden Ball " in St. Martin's,
near Aldersgate. The Spectator for April 2, 1711,
No. 28, has the following sentence: — "It would
have been ridiculous for the ingenious Mrs. Salmon
to have lived at the sign of the trout ; for which
reason she has erected before her house the figure
of the fish that is her namesake." Further allusions
to the lady will be found in No. 31, and in No. 609
of the same publication. The waxworks migrated
to Fleet Street, where they were shown near the
Horn Tavern, now Anderton's Hotel. A handbill
describing them mentions " 140 figures as big as
life all made by Mrs. Salmon, who sells all sorts
of moulds and glass eyes, and teaches the full
art." The death of the original proprietor is thus
recorded : — ** March, 1760, died Mrs. Steer, aged 90,
but was generally known by the name of her former
husband, Mr. Salmon. She was famed for making
several figures in wax, which have long been shown
in Fleet Street." The collection was then bought
by Mr. Clark or Clarke, a surgeon, of Chancery
Lane (said to have been the father of Sir Charles

196 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Mansfield Clarke, M.D.), and, when he died, his
widow continued the exhibition under the name of
Salmon. In 1788 the waxworks were some little
distance west of the Horn Tavern, at an old house.
No. 189 Fleet Street, the site of which was after-
wards occupied by Praed's Bank. At the beginning
of 1795 Mrs. Clark shifted her quarters to No. 17
over the way. Her removal is announced as follows
in the Morning Herald for January 28, 1795 (not
1785, as we are told by J. Timbs) : — " The house
in which Mrs. Salmon's Waxworks have for above a
century been exhibited is pulling down ; the figures
are removed to the very spacious and handsome
apartments at the corner of the Inner Temple Gate,
which was once the Palace of Henry, Prince of
Wales, the eldest son of King James the First, and
they are now the residence of many a royal guest
Here are held the Courts of Alexander the Great,
of King Henry the Eighth, of Caractacus, and the
present Duke of York. Happy ingenuity to bring
heroes together maugre the lapse of time I The
levees of each of these persons are daily very
numerously attended, and we find them all to be
of very easy access, since it is insured by a shilling
to one of the attendants." At the door was placed
the figure on crutches of a well-known person, Ann

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 197

Siggs by name, and, according to J. T. Smith, if a
certain spring were trodden on, the counterfeit pre-
sentment of Mother Shipton kicked the astonished
visitor when he was in the act of leaving. J. Timbs
and C. T. Noble both say that Mrs. Clark died in
1812 at an advanced age, but in the parish tithes-
book I find the name at No. 17 three years later.
In 1814 Mrs. "Biddy" Clark is replaced by William
Reed or Read. Next year the name of Clark is
seen again, but in the fourth quarter "Biddy" is
changed to " Charlotte." The following year Reed's
name returns, and so ends the Clark connection.
I would add that the apocryphal statement now on
the front of the house, that it was "formerly the
palace of Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey,"
probably grew in part out of the more modest claim
that it was " once the palace of Henry, Prince of
Wales," in part out of the tale, already referred to,
of Wolsey's arms having been placed on the old
Middle Temple Gate-house.

We have reached the time when Mr. Reed
became tenant of No. 17 in place of Mrs. Clark,
and we can now gather fresh information from
documents at the Inner Temple, which prove that
after Mrs. Clark's time, the house, or part of it, was
known by its old sign, as the Fountain Tavern. In

198 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

1823 a petition was presented to the Benchers by
Mr. James Sotheby, and in their note of his petition
he is described as " owner of the Fountain Tavern,
heretofore called the Prince's Arms — part whereof
is built over the Gateway." A nominal rent was
paid for the use of windows looking on to Inner
Temple Lane, and at Lady Day, 1823, the Society's
account-book has the following entries: — "Fountain
Tavern 3s. 9d., Mr. Reed Is. 6d.," which prove
clearly that there were then two separate tenants.
From this and other documents it seems probable
that during the time of the waxworks the house
was divided, and that part continued to be used as
the Fountain Tavern. For more than sixty years
a hairdressing business has been carried on here, the
present occupant being Mr. Carter.

Before quitting altogether the subject of No. 17
Fleet Street, I should like to say a few words
about Nando's Coffee-house, and its supposed
connection with this building. We all know what
is told about Nando's in books of London topo-
graphy, namely, that it was at the east corner of
Inner Temple Lane, which implies that it was at
the Inner Temple Gate-house. Timbs says posi-
tively that No. 17 Fleet Street "was formerly
Nando's, also the depository of Mrs. Salmon's

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 199

Waxwork." Peter Cunningham also places Nando's
at the east corner of Inner Temple, and subsequent
writers have, I think, invariably copied the state-
ments of these two authorities on the subject, except
Mr. Bellot, who has seen my article. No one ex-
plains the name, which was probably a contraction
for Ferdinand's, or Ferdinando's ; it being much the
fashion to call a coffee-house after the name of the
owner or occupant, as Tom's, Dick's, etc. One
calls to mind also how the name of Sir Hans Sloane's
servant, Salter, at Chelsea, was transformed into
Don Saltero when he started a coffee-house there.
Nando's Coffee-house in Fleet Street, which
existed in 1697, and perhaps some years earher,
had, for about a century, a considerable reputation.
It may be noted that Bernard Lintot the famous
pubhsher, of whom it has been written.

Some country squire to Lintot goes,
Enquires for Swift in verse and prose.

published various books ** from the Cross Keys next
Nando's Coffee-house, Temple Bar." Many years
afterwards Nando's was frequented by Lord Chan-
cellor Thurlow, when a briefless barrister, the charms
of the punch and of the landlady's daughter render-
ing it at that time popular, and here Thurlow's

200 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

skill in argument obtained for him, from a stranger,
the appointment of junior counsel in the famous
ease of Douglas v. the Duke of Hamilton.

The evidence indicating the exact position of
this historic coffee-house will be found in a Further
Report of the Commissioners for enquiring con-
cerning Charities, 1823, vol. ix. p. 283. It appears
that John Jones of London and Hampton, Esq.,
by will dated March 26, 1692, devised certain lands
for charitable uses in connection with the parish of
Hampton-on-Thames, Middlesex, and arrangements
for carrying out testator's wishes were entered into,
by virtue of which certain deeds were executed.
One of these was a conveyance of two -fourth
parts of and in

" All that messuage or tenement with the appurtenances
situate in Fleet Street in the parish of St. Dunstan-in-the-
West in London, and containing the several rooms therein-
after mentioned, viz. on the ground story a kitchen fronting
Fleet Street, and a cellar lying behind the said kitchen ; in the
second story one shop fronting towards Fleet Street, one
room used for a coffee-house lying behind the first shop
commonly called or known by the name of Nando's Coffee-
house with an entry leading out of the said street into the
said coffee-house, one room adjoining on the south part of the
said coffee-house and lying over part of the said cellar belong-
ing to a messuage or tenement called or known by the name
of the Rainbow Coffee-house "containing from north to
south within the walls 16 feet, and from east to west 11 feet

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 201

little more or less ; on the third story one dining-room front-
ing Fleet Street, and one back room or chamber lying behind
the said dining-room, and also one room lying in the west
side of the said back room or chamber, some part over and
some under the rooms belonging to a messuage or tenement
then or late in the tenure of Mary Leslie, widow, and con-
taining from north to south 15 feet, and from east to west
12 feet little more or less ; in the fourth story, two rooms or
chambers lying directly over the said room or chamber
behind it ; in the fifth story two other rooms or chambers
lying directly over the said two last-mentioned rooms ; and in
the sixth or uppermost story two garrets lying over the two
last-mentioned rooms/"*

The property was to be held m trust towards the
maintenance of a schoolmaster duly qualified to
instruct children residing at Hampton in the
English and Latin tongues, and to understand the
catechism. The Commissioners report that the
property so settled consisted in January 1828 of
one moiety of a house in Fleet Street, formerly
Nando's Coffee-house.

A satirical print called the " Battle of Temple
Bar" illustrates an event of March 22, 1769, when
some six hundred sober-minded people, merchants,
bankers, and others opposed to Wilkes, set out from
the Guildhall, headed by the City Marshall, to deliver
an address at St. James's. The mob attacked them,
took possession of Temple Bar, and drove them out

202 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

of their carriages, several taking refuge in Nando's.
On the print the name of this house is placed over
a doorway, which agrees in position as nearly as
may be with the existing entrance of the Rainbow.
Again, to repeat two only of several similar state-
ments known to the writer. Hughson, in his
account of London, 1807, speaks of "the Rainbow,
or Nando's Coffee House " ; and in the Every
Night Book, or Life after Dark, 1827, by the
author of the Cigar, there is an account of the
Rainbow, wherein we are told that "this tavern
which stands near the Temple Gate, opposite
Chancery Lane, in Fleet Street, once bore the title
of Nando's as well as that of the Rainbow." It
is to be hoped after this accumulation of evidence
as to the true position of Nando's, future writers
will cease to domicile it at the Inner Temple Gate-
house.

The Rainbow is numbered 15 Fleet Street.
A few doors west, a long passage formerly led
to another famous old coffee-house, known as
Dick's or Richard's, the back of which was in
Hare Court, Temple, nestling against a fine old
block of chambers, and overshadowed on the east
by a high modern structure which seemed to have
got in there by mistake. Hare Court is described

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 203

by " Elia " with less than his usual sympathy, as
"a gloomy churchyard-like place with trees and
a pump in it." At this pump he had often drunk
when a child, and the contents later in life he
recommends as "excellent cold with brandy."
Dick's Coffee-house, with which it was so intimately
connected, stood on the site of the printing office
of Richard Tottel, law stationer in the reign
of Henry VIII., but got its name from Richard
Torner or Turner, who was landlord in 1680.
From the days of Steele and Addison many
eminent men frequented it. In 1737 a play
called The Coffee-house, by the Rev. James
MiUer, was performed at Drury Lane Theatre, two
of the characters in which were supposed to be
aimed at Mrs. Yarrow and her daughter, the
former being then landlady of Dick's ; in conse-
quence the Templars among whom she was
popular, went in a body and damned the piece.
Miller in his preface to an edition of it published
the same year denied that Dick's was meant, but
his frontispiece was an engraving of the interior
of this very coffee-house. The champions of Mrs.
Yarrow were therefore confirmed in their previous
belief, and henceforth they did their best (or worst)
to ruin every play which they supposed to have

204 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

been written by Miller. Dick's Coffee-house con-
tinued to flourish until late in the nineteenth
century, being during its last few years in the
occupation of an Italian. In front it was a wooden
building, as can be seen in one of our illustrations,
the back was really half-timbered, the timbering
concealed by plaster ; inside, the appearance was
not unlike what is shown in the frontispiece of
Miller's play. The original staircase remained. The
whole was swept away in 1899, together with Butter-
worth's old shop, which stood in front of it at No. 7
Fleet Street. The seventeenth-century chambers
on the west side of Hare Court, built after the
fire of 1678, had disappeared some time previously.
It would occupy several volumes instead of a
few pages to describe the Inns of Court adequately,
and that work has already been attempted again
and again. We all know that they are four in
number. Lincoln's Inn, still distinguished by
beautiful old buildings, runs a hard race for
pre-eminence with the Inner and the Middle
Temple : —

Those bricky towres
The which on Themmes brode aged back doe ryde.
Where now the studious lawyers have their bowers,
There whylome wont the Templer Knights to byde.
Till they decayd through pride.

OFTHZ

OF
FOBHiJ

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 205

Last, not least, Gray's Inn, as picturesque as
any of the four, will always be remembered from
the many famous men who have been connected
with it, but chiefly perhaps to the outer world as
the legal foster-mother of Francis Bacon, and as
still containing a colony of rooks in its historic
gardens. We wonder why the authorities have
lately pulled down that north wall along what
used to be called the King's Road, destroying for
ever the privacy of the place, the air about it of
**rus in urbe" which constituted its great charm.
And how could they even think of destroying the
delightful house in Field Court, with an open
gallery like an Italian loggia below ?

Doubtless to lovers of the past the Inns of
Court are not quite so attractive as they once
were. Quiet old buildings have been too often
replaced by pretentious modern ones, the sun-
dials look bran new, the Temple fountain has
been stuccoed over. Still these delightful precincts
remain in a sense intact, and are not likely to be
encroached upon. It is far otherwise with the lesser
legal Inns which were called Inns of Chancery. In
the time of Henry VI., as we are told by a con-
temporary writer, there were no less than ten of
them. Stow, at the end of the sixteenth century.

206 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

speaks of the Inns of Chancery as chiefly occupied
by officers, attorneys, solicitors, and clerks, who
" follow the Courts of the King's Bench or Common
Pleas ; and yet there want not some other, being
young students that come thither sometimes from
one of the Universities, and sometimes immediately
from grammar schools ; and these, having spent
some time in studying upon the first elements and
grounds of the law, and having performed the
exercises of their own houses called Boltas Mootes
(disputations) and putting of cases, they proceed to
be admitted and become students in some of the
four houses or Inns of Court." By the middle of
the eighteenth century these Inns of Chancery had
not much diminished in number ; and although
gradually the intentions of the original founders
came to be altogether ignored, great part of the
buildings, and in most cases the societies which had
become virtually their possessors, continued to exist
until quite recently.

An Inn of Chancery long ago disestablished was
Thavie's Inn, Holborn Circus, which had belonged
to Lincoln's Inn, and was sold by that society to
a Mr. Middleton in 1771. The north end of it was
destroyed in forming the Holborn Viaduct, but on
the remainder of the site there is still a double row

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 207

of houses called by the name. Furnival's Inn, also
in Holborn, and also originally attached to Lincoln's
Inn, became after about 1818 a series of chambers
wholly unconnected with the law. Until the time
that it ceased to be an Inn of Chancery it had a
fine Gothic Hall with timber roof, but the whole
was rebuilt by WiUiam Peto, the contractor, in
1818-20. At No. 15 Furnival's Inn, on the east
side of the square, Charles Dickens lived in 1835,
the north side being occupied by Wood's Hotel.
All these later buildings are now entirely swept
away.

Another Inn of Chancery which has been
obliterated is Lyon's Inn, an appanage of the Inner
Temple. Sir Edward Coke was reader here about
1578, and for two succeeding years ; but it seems
to be chiefly associated in most people's minds with
the victim of John Thurtell, murdered in 1823 : —

They cut his throat from ear to ear.

His brains they battered in ;
His name was Mr. William Weare,

He dwelt in Lyon's Inn.

It was sold by the members in 1863, the Inn being
shortly afterwards demolished, and the Globe
Theatre built on its site.

There were two houses of law called Serjeants'

208 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Inn, which cannot be classed as Inns of Chancery,
but certainly require a few words of notice. They
were set apart for judges and serjeants-at-law, each
justice of the King's Bench or Common Pleas
having to become a serjeant, if he had not already
done so, before being sworn in as judge. The Fleet
Street precinct appears to have been deserted by
the Serjeants in the course of the eighteenth century,
but still exists as an ordinary Square. The second
Serjeants' Inn, on the east side of Chancery Lane,
was formerly called Faryngdon Inn, after the person
who gave his name to the wards of Farringdon, and
continued to be used until the dissolution of the
Society in 1876-77, the property being sold early in
the latter year for £57,100, and the proceeds divided
among the members ; a transaction with regard to
which there was a good deal of adverse comment.
A part of the old building still remains on the
south side of the passage between Clifford's Inn and
Chancery. A third Inn, used by the Serjeants in
early times, was called Scroope's Inn, and stood
opposite to St. Andrew's Church, Holborn, but
ceased its connection with the lawyers about the
end of the fifteenth century. Before quitting this
subject I would add that the badge or emblem of
the now extinct Serjeants, known as the coif, after

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 209

going through various changes, was finally a little
frill of white silk round a black patch about two
inches in diameter, which represented a black skull-
cap and was fastened on to the wig. It is said that
when Sir Fitzroy Kelly was made a Serjeant in
order to become Lord Chief Baron, the robe-maker
had sent no coif, and that its place was supplied by
the Lord Chancellor's pen-wiper, pinned on for the
occasion.

We all know the street front of a grand old
gabled building close to the site of Holborn Bars,
and most of us have seen the charming courtyards
and garden at the back of it, some have even
peeped into the hall, with its open timber roof, the
date 1581 carved on a corbel. This is Staple Inn,
the Principal and Ancients of which were the first
among those having legal rights over an Inn of
Chancery to follow the example of the Serjeants-at-
law. The place was sold in 1884 for £68,000, and
by an unlooked-for piece of good fortune it came
into the hands of the Prudential Assurance
Company, which has so far preserved it with the
utmost care. We will not dwell at length on the
history of Staple Inn, the early part of which is
indeed somewhat obscure. Was it in any way
connected with the Merchants of the Staple ?

210 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

For this, as far as one can ascertain, there is no
authority except a tradition quoted by Sir George
Buc, master of the revels, in his treatise which is
appended to Howes's edition of S tow's Annales,

When we come to the building as an Inn of
Chancery we are still doubtful. Most authorities
consider that it was first occupied for legal purposes
about 1415 ; Mr. Worsfold, in Staple Inn and its
Story, puts back the date to 1378. At least we
know that in the twentieth year of Henry VIII.
the inheritance of Staple Inn passed from John
Knighton and Alice his wife to the Benchers and
Ancients of Gray's Inn ; and they surely must have
been the " Gentlemen of this House " commended
by Sir George for ** new-building a fayre Hall of
brick and two parts of the outward Courtyards,
besides other lodging in the garden and elsewhere,"
and thus making it '* the fay rest Inne of Chancery
in this Universitie." During the reign of Queen
Elizabeth there were at Staple Inn 145 students in
term time and 69 out of term, more than attended
any other Inn of Chancery.

The management of Staple Inn was in the hands
of a Principal, who was elected every third year, a
Pensioner, corresponding as regards his duties with
a college bursar, and a Council consisting of eleven

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 211

Ancients whose number was kept up by election
from the junior members. There was also a Reader,
chosen by the members from three whose names
were submitted by Gray's Inn. In 1855 the
number of Ancients had diminished to eight, and
there were twelve Juniors.

Among the famous people associated with Staple
Inn was Dr. Johnson, who moved here from the
still existing house on the west side of Gough Square
on March 23, 1759, and wrote that very day to his
step-daughter. Miss Lucy Porter, announcing the
fact. He added, "I am going to publish a little
Story Book, which I will send you when it is out."
This was Easselas, Boswell tells us that he " wrote
it, that with the profits he might defray the expense
of his mother's funeral, and pay some little debts
which she had left." Isaac Reed the Shakespeare
commentator was also once a resident, having
chambers at No. 11, where Steevens corrected
the proof-sheets of his edition of Shakespeare.
Dickens places Mr. Grewgious in Edxmn JDrood
at No. 10, where over the door are the date 1747
and the initials j .p which refer to Principal John
Thomson. Nathaniel Hawthorne during his first
visit to London " went astray in Holborn through
an arched entrance over which was Staple Inn : —

212 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

in a Court opening inwards from this there was a
surrounding seclusion of quiet dwelling-houses, with
beautiful green shrubbery and grass plots in the
Court and a great many sunflowers in full bloom."
He finishes a charming description with the follow-
ing words, which are fortunately still true. " In all
the hundreds of years since London was built it has
not been able to sweep its roaring tide over that
little island of quiet." Our illustration of the
Holborn front of Staple Inn was painted before its
sale to the Prudential Assurance Company, before
therefore it had been restored, when the timber
beams were cleared of their plaster covering and
many of them renewed. Of late years the effect
of the old building from this point of view has
been much injured by the erection of lofty houses
on each side of it.

A short distance east of Staple Inn, on the
same side of the street, was a sister Inn of Chancery,
disestablished not many years afterwards, but in
part also saved from destruction. This was
Barnard's Inn, originally called Mackworth's Inn,
from having been the residence of Dr. John
Mackworth, Dean of Lincoln in the reign of
Henry VI. His successor and the Chapter of
Lincoln leased it to Lyonel Barnard, from whom

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 213

was derived the name by which it has so long been
known. As early as the middle of the fifteenth
century it was occupied by legal students, for
Stow tells us that in the year 1454 there was "a
great fray" in Fleet Street between ''men of
court " and the inhabitants there, in the course of
which the Queen's attorney was killed. For this
act the Principals of Barnard's Inn, Clifford's Inn,
and Furnival's Inn were sent as prisoners to
Hertford Castle. In the Gordon riots of 1780
Barnard's Inn had a narrow escape, the neighbour-
ing distillery being destroyed. The rules regulating
Barnard's Inn resembled those of the other Inns
of Chancery. In 1854 the establishment consisted
of a Principal, nine Ancients, and five Companions.
The advantage of being a Companion was stated
to be *' the dining," and the advantage of being an
Ancient, "dinners and some little fees." In 1888
the whole was advertised for sale, and early in the
nineties it was bought by the Mercers' Company
and adapted for the purposes of their school.

The hall is only 36 feet long by 22 feet in width,
and faces the narrow passage by which one enters
from Holborn. It certainly dates from the founda-
tion of the building in the fifteenth century, but
has been altered and renewed from time to time.

214 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

A louvre still adorns the roof, and doubtless the
fire was laid originally upon an open hearth in
the middle of the room ; the fireplace at the end is,
however, of considerable age, having a Tudor arch.
Our painting of the interior, done in 1886, shows
the walls adorned with portraits ; the full length
over the mantelpiece, representing Chief Justice
Holt, is now at the National Portrait Gallery.
The figure seated at a table is clad in one of the
gowns which were worn on certain occasions by
the Ancients. The appearance of the hall has
since been a good deal altered ; beyond it was a
somewhat irregular quadrangle, part of which
appears in another illustration. The quaint gabled
houses therein shown to spectator's right, which
were close to the yard of the White Horse Inn,
disappeared in the year 1893, but those in the
centre part of the illustration remain, their fronts
abutting on Fetter Lane. At No. 2 dwelt Peter
Woulfe, F.R.S., known as the last true believer
in alchemy, who here laboured at the hopeless task
of trying to make gold. Sir Humphry Davy said
of him that he used to hang up written prayers and
recommendations of his processes to Providence.
The chambers were then so filled with furniture
and apparatus that it was difficult to make one's

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 215

way about them. His remedy for illness was a
journey to Edinburgh and back by coach, and a
cold taken on one of these expeditions brought
on inflammation of the lungs, from which he died.
Other houses in the quadrangle have been replaced
by the new school buildings. This picturesque
and interesting old place was apparently not
appreciated by Charles Dickens, for there are
references to it in Great Expectations of rather
an uncomplimentary nature. We would add that
between the time of the Inn's disestablishment and
its occupation by the Mercers' Company the Art
Workers' Guild had its meetings in the hall, and
here William Morris and other men of light and
leading occupied the chair.

We will now retrace our steps to the neighbour-
hood of the Law Courts, on the west side of
which, until a few years ago, there was one of the
most historic Inns of Chancery, Clement's Inn,
appertaining to the Inner Temple, and so called
because it stood "near to St. Clement's Church,
but nearer to the fair fountain called Clement's
Well." It is described in a lease from Sir John
Cantlow to Will. Elyot and John Elyot, dated 2
Hen. VII. (1486-87) and enrolled in Chancery that
year, as " All that Inn called Clements Inn, and

216 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

six Chambers without and near the South gate of
the sd Inn, and two gardens adjoining, in one of
which is a Dovehouse, and in the other a Barn
with Stables. A House called a Gate House, and
a Close called Clements Inn Close, all which are
scituate in the Parish of St. Clement Danes in the
County of Middx, between the tenem* of the said
S""- John Cantlow in the tenure of the sd Will and
Jno. Elyot, and the Inn and Garden of the New
Inn, and the Inn and Garden of Sir John Fortescue
Knight on the West, and between tne Highway
opposite the Parish Church of St. Clement on the
South, and a Close or pasture belonging to the
chapter of St. Giles's Hospital on the north."

The most noteworthy student of Clement's Inn
mentioned in literature appears to have been
Justice Shallow, to whom reference is made in the
quotation heading this chapter. That fine artist
Hollar, who was so little appreciated in his lifetime,
and died in such abject poverty, lodged "without
St. Clement's Inn back door" in 1661. Writing
to Aubrey he says, *' If you have occasion to ask
for me, then you must say the Frenchman limner."
This is held by some to be the Shepherd's Inn of
Thackeray's Pendennis,

The chief entrance to Clement's Inn was formerly

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 217

through a fine gateway to the north of the Church
of St. Clement Danes, which was swept away in
1868, to make room for the new Law Courts. The
hall, a short distance to the north, was built in 1715,
and close at hand near the boundary of New Inn
was the dainty little house here depicted, with its
trim lawn and the figure of a negro supporting a
sundial. Garden House, as it was called, has been
carefully drawn and described by Mr. Roland Paul,
and a view of it was issued by the Society for
Photographing Relics of Old London, with an
accompanying note by Mr. Alfred Marks. It had
quoins, moulded cornices, and pilasters of rubbed
brick, stone being used for the balustrades and
about the windows. The second story may have
been a later addition. According to Seymour,
Clement's Inn came to the Earls of Clare from
Sir William Holies, who was Lord Mayor of
London in 1539. The kneeling blackamoor is
usually said to have been presented to the Inn by a
Holies, Lord Clare, which one is not specified. This
statement, which appears to have originated with
John Thomas Smith in The Streets of London, may
not improbably be true, as the Holies family were
the ground landlords. The story has,- however,
grown with time, and of late years it has generally

218 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

been added that the statue is of bronze, and that it
was brought from Italy. On referring to Smith's
gossiping book, above mentioned, one finds on
another page that during the earlier part of the
eighteenth century leaden figures were largely
manufactured in London, the original figure yard
being established in Piccadilly by John Van Nost,
a Dutch sculptor who came to England with
King William III. His effects were sold in 1711,
after his death, but the business was continued,
being taken in 1739 by John Cheere, "who served
time with his brother. Sir Henry Cheere, the
statuary who executed several monuments in West-
minster Abbey. The figures were cast in lead as
large as life, and frequently painted with an inten-
tion to resemble nature. They consisted of Punch,
Harlequin — mowers whetting their scythes — but
above all, that of an African kneeling with a sun-
dial upon his head found the most extensive sale."
All this is set forth in Mr. W. K Lethaby's
excellent little volume on lead work (1893). The
leaden figure which knelt for so many years in front
of the Garden House at Clement's Inn, and about
which an often quoted epigram has been written,
disappeared mysteriously in 1884, the rumour being
that the Ancients had sold it for twenty guineas.

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 219

Not long afterwards they disestablished themselves
and disposed of the Inn with the ground attached
to it, which has since been built over. About the
same time the figure found its way to the garden
of the Inner Temple, to which Society Clement's
Inn appertained. The late Mr. Hare, in his Walks
in London, remarks that " there are similar figures
at Knowsley, and at Arley in Cheshire." I have
observed three — possibly with slight variations —
at Purley Hall near Pangbourne, at Ockham
Park Surrey, and at Slindon Park Sussex. Mr.
Philipson-Stow has one which came from Cowdray.
An illustration of another is given in Country Life
for April 28, 1900, this time bearing on his head
a vase. The writer of the accompanying article
believes the original to have been by Pietro
Tacca, who modelled the group of galley-slaves
at Leghorn, and adds that he has also seen such
figures in Italy.

The formation of the new street from Holborn
to the Strand, while no doubt increasing public
convenience, has swept away, we suppose inevitably,
various spots dear to the artist and the antiquary.
Among those with the loss of which they must be
debited is the New Inn, another Inn of Chancery
appertaining to the Middle Temple; a few frag-

220 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

ments of it were still standing at the end of the year
1904. It had touched Clement's Inn on the west, and
was entered through an archway on the north side
of Wych Street. There was an ample square, with
trees and pleasant brick buildings, which dated from
the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century.
Sir George Buc tells us that "Newe Inne was a
guest Inne, the sign whereof was the picture of our
Lady, and thereupon it was also called Our Ladies
Inne ; it was purchased or hired by Syr John
Fineux, Chiefe Justice of the King's Bench in the
raigne of King Edward the Fourth, for 6" per
annum, to place therein those students of the Law
who were lodged in the little Old Bailey, in a house
called St. George's Lane." Sir Thomas More was
of New Inn before becoming a member of Lincoln's
Inn. When deprived of the Chancellorship, he
spoke of being reduced to " New Inn fare where-
with many an honest man is well contented."

We have reserved until the end of the chapter
our notice of Clifford's Inn, Fleet Street, the
most ancient Inn of Chancery, which was not sold
until the spring of 1903, and is still almost intact.
Like Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, and Furnival's
Inn, it had first grown up in or near the house
of a great nobleman. From an original document,

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 221

dated February 24, 1310, we learn that the King
on that day granted to Robert de Clifford, fifth
Baron Clifford by tenure and the first by writ, a
"messuage with the appurtenances next to the
Church of St. Dunstan-in-the-West in the suburb
of London," which had come into the possession
of the King's father, Edward I., and had lately
been held by John de Brittany, but was then hi
the King's own hands. This Robert de Clifford
was killed at the Battle of Bannockburn. His
son's widow, Isabel, some thii-ty years afterwards,
demised the said messuage to " students of the law "
for a rent of £lO a year. Except for a short time
after the attainder of John, ninth Baron CUfford, a
vehement and cruel Lancastrian, the house con-
tinued to belong to the de Clifford family, being
however, it is thought, always used as an Inn of
Chancery after the original demise of Isabel de
Clifford. The famous Coke in 1571, being then
nineteen years of age, went to reside at Clifford's Inn,
and in the following year, as Fuller tells us, he was
" entered as studient of Municipal Law in the Inner
Temple," to which Clifford's Inn was attached.
John Selden followed his example, entering at
Clifford's Inn in 1602, and at the Inner Temple two
years afterwards. In 1574 the judges- ordered that

r.ONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

every utter barrister should for three years after he
was called "attend ordinary mootings and other
exercises of learning both in Court and Chancery,"
and no one was then allowed to plead in a Court
at Westminster unless he was either a reader or
bencher at an Inn of Court, an utter barrister of
five years' standing, or had been a reader at an Inn
of Chancery for two years at least. But from the
earlier part of the seventeenth century the Inns
of Chancery began to go out of fashion as legal
seminaries, and though they were always connected
with the law and almost to the last, traces remained
of the former system of legal study, they by degrees
left off fulfilling a main object of their original
foundation. The earliest record in possession of
the Society of Clifford's Inn was a copy and trans-
lation of some ancient rules, which, in part at least,
dated from the time of Edward IV., but were
renewed and written out afresh during Henry VI I. 's
reign. Some of them are very quaint. Under
Rule 11 a member could be fined one farthing for
each word of ribaldry spoken in the hall during
dinner or supper. Rule 14 ordains that any
member striking another member "with his fist,
cudgel, knife, dagger, or other weapon, without
effusion of blood shall pay for every such offence

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY

twelve pence, and shall make amends ; but if he
strikes to the effusion of blood he shall make amends
to the party at the discretion of the Prmcipal, and
shall pay to the Society six shillings and eight pence,
and repeating such behaviour shall be expelled and
put out of y^ Inn." A fine is also fixed for any
member who shall persuade or compel another
member to sally forth from the Inn for purposes of
revenge. Each member is to pay thirteen pence
for vessels of pewter, and is bound to have in the
kitchen "two plates and dishes of pewter every day
for his own use. He shall not break into the
buttery, or through the gates after they have been
shut, or disgrace the Inn by bringing into it or con-
cealing therein any common woman." Members
were not to play at or keep " any dice, cards, tables,
piquet, or any ridiculous amusements in metalls,
coites, or other unlawful game within the same Inn
or without, privately or openely, at any time, or in
the times of Christmas or Candlemas without the
consent of the Principal and the whole of the
Council." No member was to lend money on
usury, or " receive, keep, or bring into the Inn any
dog called a greyhound, grey bitch, spaniel or
mastiff," under penalty for a first offence of forty
pence; or to write or scratch upon the tables in

224 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

the hall, or take fruit or herbage growing in the
garden without leave of the Principal. Other rules
relate to the system of education, being chiefly a
list of fines for non-attendance at lectures and
moots or legal discussions.

On March 29, 1618, the Society of Cliffbrd's Inn
purchased for the sum of £600 from Francis, fourth
Earl of Cumberland, and Lord Clifford, his son and
heir, "the capital messuage commonly called
Clifford's Inn." There are three reservations in the
grant. On the west side of the garden, adjoining
Serjeants' Inn, Chancery Lane, and where it
touched the holders of the Rolls House property, a
strip of land 22 feet wide, and 134 feet long, with
the trees upon it, was to be " kept and maynteyned
by the Earle and Lord Clifford, their heirs and
assignes," and this strip was afterwards sold to the
representatives of Serjeants' Inn. A rent charge of
£4 a year was also reserved, and the Cliffords kept
for themselves or their representative a set of
chambers. Francis, Earl of Cumberland, who thus
sold Clifford's Inn, was ninth in descent from
Robert de Clifford, the original grantee. The
Earldom became extinct in the next generation, but
his son Henry left a daughter, who married Richard
Boyle, first Earl of Burlington. From the daughter

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 225

and heiress of the third Earl, who is so well re-
membered for his taste and knowledge of archi-
tecture, the small rights retained by the Clifford
family were conveyed to the Cavendishes. The
rent charge on Clifford's Inn of £4 a year, with the
nomination for the chambers, continued to belong-
to them until the year 1880, when it was bought
by the Society from the father of the present Duke
of Devonshire.

Want of space forbids our dwelling at length
on the customs and constitution of the Society in
later times. Here, as elsewhere, it was governed
by a Council, the members of which were latterly
called Rules, though the term Ancients was also
sometimes applied to them. There were also junior
members called Fellows, the junior table in hall
being latterly for some unexplained reason known
as the Kentish Mess. From an entry in the
minutes for the year 1613 there seems to have been
then a hearth in the centre, the smoke no doubt
escaping by a louvre, such as that at Barnard's Inn.
On February 11, 1670, Francis Reading and John
Anderton, Fellows, were fined 2s. 6d. each for
making default in the exercise of '' inner barristers "
at a moot in the hall, but on their humble suit the
fines were reduced to one shilling each. On June

226 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

24 of the same year, at the request of Sir John
Howell, Recorder, the authorities of Clifford's Inn
agreed to allow the judges to use the hall for the
purpose of hearing and determining causes ; as they
were empowered to do by Act of Parliament.
Accordingly Sir Matthew Hale and other principal
judges sat there to settle all disputes about
boundaries, etc. arising out of the Great Fire.

In 1766 the question of building a new common
hall was considered, and after more than a year's
deliberation the plan of Mr. Clarke, bricklayer
to the Society, was accepted, the price agreed on
being £600. The old walls and foundations were
utilised to some extent, but it was afterwards found
necessary to take down the north wall to the
ground level. Later in the year it was arranged
with Clarke that " the porch and cupola of the
Hall be made after the plans drawn by Mr. Gorham,
and now produced, being in the Gothic style and
more agreeable to the windows and the rest of the
buildmg than the porch and cupola in the original
drawings, and Mr. Clarke agrees to do the same
for £lO beyond the estimate." The Hall thus
evolved, though one can hardly say that it has
architectural merit, is a pleasant structure, and
incorporated in it there is doubtless much mediaeval

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 227

work. The old wall is distinctly visible at the east
end where one passes through what is perhaps a
fourteenth - century arch, descending by several
steps into the narrow chamber once used as a
buttery. Outside are the date 1767 and the initial
letters ^^m. referring to the then Principal William
Monk. The Clifford Arms are over the Fleet
Street entrance. Since they migrated from Bar-
nard's Inn at the beginning of 1894 the Hall has been
used as the meeting -place of the Art Workers'
Guild, which claims to have done something for
the furtherance of true art in this country.

The rest of the precinct consists of brick build-
ings, courtyards, and a pretty garden adorned by
plane trees. The buildings vary in date, the most
ancient in part at least being No. 12 on the
south side, which first saw the light in 1624, and
was originally known as Fetherston's building.
Nos. 8 and 10 at the east end of the Hall are also
of considerable age. On what appears to be the
oldest part of the latter, facing the garden, is a
stone with initials j^f. referring to Principal James
Foster, and the date 1719 ; this, however, was put
up, not at the time of the original building but of
a subsequent repair. On the east side of the
garden is the range of chambers numbered 14 to

228 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

16, forming a delightful group and all dating from
about 1663 except the first named, which was
built in 1669-70. In fact this part of the block,
together with the adjoining buildings immediately
to the east of it right up to Fetter Lane, seem
to have been seriously damaged if not destroyed
in the Great Fire, which certainly burned down
No. 13, across the courtyard a little further south,
though it missed the two old gabled houses in
Fleet Street east of St. Dunstan's Church, which
were pulled down quite recently. At No. 16, where
Mr. Emery Walker is fitly housed, the London
Topographical Society also has its headquarters.
At No. 3, in the first court from Fleet Street,
was some finely carved woodwork of the Grinling
Gibbons style, but this has now found a home in
the Victoria and Albert Museum. No. 3 was
rebuilt in 1686, No. 1 in 1682, and No. 2 in 1690.
Nos. 5, 6, and 7 no longer exist ; the ground on
which they stood was required for the present St.
Dunstan's Church, and they were destroyed in
1830. The chief entrance to Clifford's Inn is the
passage from Fleet Street immediately west of St.
Dunstan's.

To return for a short time to the history of the
Inn. A serious dispute took place in 1833 as to

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 229

the election of Principal, Mr. Jessop, a barrister,
trying to turn out a solicitor named Allen, who
had been elected. It ended in a law suit, which
was tried at the King's Bench in the following
year, when Jessop failed, although he had to some
extent the support of the Benchers of the Inner
Temple. Clifford's Inn was indeed nominally
dependent on that Society, but it was then
declared in court by one of the judges that no
instance had been adduced of the governing body
of the Inner Temple having exercised authority
over it by compulsion. For many years prior
to 1884 the Society of Clifford's Inn was composed
of twenty-five members ; namely, the President,
twelve Rules and twelve junior Fellows, or
members of the Kentish Mess. Until that year
the Principal and Rules carried on the manage-
ment, but in 1884 the Rules and members of the
Kentish Mess were amalgamated. After 1877
no new member was admitted into the Society.
Latterly, until the letting of the Hall when they
ceased there altogether, the dinners in Hall were
reduced to two in each term. On these occasions
it was the custom to perform a curious ceremony.
The President for the time being took up four
little loaves baked together in the form of a cross ;

230 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

he knocked them thrice on the table and then slid
them down the middle of it. Finally they reached
the hands of the porter, who, arrayed in his gown,
was standing at the lower end, and by him they
were removed to the back of the screen. The
meaning of this ancient custom is forgotten ; the
three knocks may have been symbolical of the
Holy Trinity, and the four loaves of the Gospels.
Perhaps it was in part originally meant to imply
that the fragments of the meal should be given to
the poor. Once a year there was a set speech by
the Bursar to the Principal, who replied. The
last vestige of the old educational system was the
appointment of a reader. As we have seen was
the case at Staple Inn and was perhaps usual at
other Inns of Chancery, the Benchers of the parent
Inn of Court used to send up the names of three
men for this office. From them the Principal and
Rules selected one, but finally he performed no
function beyond dining in Hall. The appointment
died a natural death in 1845, although many years
afterwards the Benchers of the Inner Temple
offered to suggest the names of gentlemen as
readers.

Of literary men who have made Clifford's Inn
their home, the names of two are not likely to be

THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY 231

forgotten. First in point of time, though not of
talent, was George Dyer, Lamb's innocent friend,
so charmingly depicted in the Essays of Elia^ who
lived here "like a dove in an asp's nest." His
slovenly condition excited the pity of one Mrs.
Mather, widow, whose third husband, a solicitor,
had occupied chambers opposite to Dyer. She
took him in hand, married him, and by her care
is said greatly to have improved his appearance.
In 1841, however, she again became a widow, and
Crabbe Robinson saw her as late as December
7, 1860. She was then in her 99th year, and
"vigorous for her time of life." His friends
are still deploring the loss of Samuel Butler,
author of Ei^ewhon, and of other able works — a
highly -gifted man and a delightful companion, who
lived for many years at No. 15, finding the seclusion
of the old Inn thoroughly congenial to his tastes.
That it may survive its tenant at least for a few
more years, if not for all time, is the earnest wish
of the writer.

CHAPTER VII

WESTWARD, HO

What's uot destroyed by Time's devouring hand ?
Where's Troy, and where's the Maypole in the Strand ?
Pease, cabbages, and turnips once grew where
Now stands New Bond Street, and a newer square.
Such piles of buildings now rise up and down,
London itself seems going out of town.

James Bramston, The Art of Politicks (1729).

Immediately west of Lincoln's Inn and the Law
Courts great changes have taken place in recent
years. First came the displacement caused by the
building of the latter. Then followed the disap-
pearance of Clement's Inn, and the almost com-
plete destruction of the region usually named Clare
Market ; and now the most sweeping change of
all is in progress, namely the formation of the
London County Council's new thoroughfare from
Holborn to the Strand. It is earnestly to be
hoped that those in authority will not allow the
approach from the south to be spoilt by the

232

WESTWARD, HO 238

erection of lofty buildings close to the two Strand
Churches. We here want quiet harmony, not
what is called by the " Improvement Committee "
"an imposing effect."

A source of very great regret to the writer is
the fact that almost all the houses on the west side
of that noble square, Lincoln's Inn Fields, have
been scheduled for destruction, the line of new
street running perilously near to them. An oil
picture of this side preserved at Wilton, the
home of the Earl of Pembroke, shows it as
originally planned by Inigo Jones, acting under a
Commission appointed in 1618. It was then called
Arch Row, from the archway leading into Duke
Street, now Sardinia Street, and the most con-
spicuous object in the picture is Lindsey House,
its stone front standing out prominently amidst
the other buildings, which appear to have been
all in similar style, of brick, with engaged pil-
asters having stone capitals, and bands of the
same material with roses and fleurs-de-lys in
relief

By degrees most of the original brick houses have
disappeared, and those that remain are stuccoed
or plastered over. Less than a year ago, how-
ever, there was one brick house more or less in its

£34 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

original condition, which, although not latterly-
reckoned as a part of Lincoln's Inn Fields, being
numbered I think 2a Portsmouth Street, and
having a mean shop in front of it on what had
been the fore-court, was really the southernmost
of the buildings designed by Inigo Jones. I was
fortunate enough to get a sketch of this (here
reproduced) immediately before its demolition by
the London County Council in the early autumn
of 1904<, and since then have taken considerable
pains, so far with poor success, to find out its
history. Locally known as Portsmouth House,
and thus named in the 5 feet Ordnance map
of London, it was said by tradition to have been
connected with Louise de Keroug^Ue, Charles II. 's
naughty French Duchess, but for this no authority
is at present forthcoming, and her chief place of
residence in London, if not the only one, was the
splendid lodging at Whitehall, which, according
to Evelyn, was " twice or thrice pulled down to
satisfy her prodigal and expensive pleasures."
Whether or not she at any time occupied this
house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, it must have been
built a generation before she came to London.
One should note, by the way, that Nell Gwyn, the
Duchess's English rival, undoubtedly lodged for a

WESTWARD, HO 235

time in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and there she gave
birth to the future Duke of St. Albans.

In connection with Portsmouth House the
question naturally arises, why was Portsmouth
Street (running in front of its site) so called ?
and to this question no publication, as far as the
writer is aware, gives any satisfactory answer. In
Lea and Morden's map of 1682 the lower part of
the street is marked as Louches Buildings, and the
present name does not occur on any plan to which
access is obtainable, until in 1746 Rocque gives to
the upper portion the name of Portsmouth Corner.
The street was formerly in the parish of St.-Giles-
in-the-Fields, but is now in that of St. Clement
Danes. The rate -books of St. Giles have been
searched from 1740 to 1789, and Portsmouth
Street is therein first mentioned in 1783, having
been treated before as part of Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Failing Louise de Keroualle, it has been thought
that the house (and hence the street) was named
after a predecessor of the present Earl of Ports-
mouth, whose title was created in 1743. This at
first sight appears to be probable, as the Wallops
undoubtedly lived in the immediate neighbour-
hood. The third Earl had a house on the west
side of Lincoln's Inn Fields, and, within the

236 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

memory of man, a lady was alive who remem-
bered dancing with him at a great ball given there.
But alas ! those fatal rate-books of the parish of
St. Giles reveal the fact that his title does not
appear in connection with Lincoln's Inn Fields
until in the year 1800 he succeeded Lady Grantley
in the occupation of a house to the north of the
archway leading into Duke Street, which from
further examination proves to have been No. 63,
bought in 1758 by Mr. Norton, who became
Speaker of the House of Commons, and afterwards
first Baron Grantley. Enough, perhaps, has been
said to prove that the name was not derived from
the Wallop family. If some one will trace its
origin as connected with this site, by contemporary
evidence, he will do a useful piece of topographical
work. One may add that a wooden mantelpiece
from Portsmouth House has found its way to the
Horniman Museum, Forest Hill.

It would require many pages to write a detailed
account of the various buildings on the west side
of Lincoln's Inn Fields, but we will briefly allude
to a few of the more interesting ones yet standing.
Newcastle House at the north-west corner is an
important mansion of brick and stone now divided
into two, numbered QQ and 67, and was built in

WESTWARD, HO 237

1686 for William Herbert, Marquis of Powis, by
an architect known as Captain William Wynde,
who had held a commission in the Dutch army,
and is said to have studied under Webb, the pupil
and executor of Inigo Jones. Lord Somers, when
Lord Chancellor, for a time inhabited the house.
It was sold to John Holies, Duke of Newcastle,
before 1708, and came into the hands of his
nephew, Thomas Pelham - Holies, Duke of New-
castle, who was so prominent a politician through-
out much of the eighteenth century. It has been
for years in the occupation of legal firms, James
Farrer, grandfather of Sir William, having bought
the southern part in 1795. Until 1868, besides
being an office, this was used as a residence. There
are some fine rooms here with plaster ceilings. One
on the ground floor in front has in the centre an
oval design with delicate Adam mouldings ; out-
side this are four peacocks in relief, which, with all
the remaining plaster work, are of much older date,
and, although not "in their pride" (as heraldically
they should be) because in that case they would not
fit into their respective spandrels, they doubtless
represent the Pelham crest. There are also some
excellent carved over-doors. On the north side the
building projects on arches over the footpath of

238 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Great Queen Street, forming a short arcade or
covered way. It is most satisfactory that this fine
mansion, which now belongs to Sir William Farrer,
is being admirably repaired, the modern division
into two being done away with. This and the stone
house adjoining, which was designed by Thomas
Leverton in the last quarter of the eighteenth cen-
tury, are the only buildings on the west side ot
Lincoln's Inn Fields not scheduled for destruction.
Perhaps a still more famous mansion is that now
numbered 59 and 60, which has been already
mentioned as Lindsey House, and although of
stone is now plastered and painted. Colin Camp-
bell, the architect, who published a drawing of
Lindsey House in the Vitruvius Britaiinicus, states
that it was designed by Inigo Jones in the year
1640. It originally had in front six massive brick
piers, two of which remain, and was built for
Robert Bertie, Earl of Lindsey, who commanded
the forces of Charles I. at the outbreak of the
Civil War. He died in 1642, of wounds received
at the battle of Edgehill. The fourth Earl was
created Duke of Ancaster in 1715, hence for a
time it had the name of Ancaster House. The
Duke sold it to the "proud" Duke of Somerset,
who married the widow of Mr. Thynne, Count

WESTWARD, HO 239

Konigsmarck's victim. The inside of the house
has been much altered, the party- wall which divides
it into two running up behind the central windows.
It has, on the ground floor in front, at No. 59,
a fine mantelpiece which has been attributed to
Jones, but is probably of much later date, perhaps
by Isaac Ware. As Mr. Alfred Marks has pointed
out, the room contains an alcove bearing the arms
of the Shiffner family, a member of which appears,
from the Gentleman s Magazine of 1759, to have
then resided at Lincoln's Inn Fields.

It may be mentioned that the next house, also
originally one, and numbered 57 and 58, although
comparatively modern is of some architectural
merit, having a stone front and semicircular portico
supported by four fluted columns ; it is thought
to have been designed by Sir William Chambers.
At No. 58 John Forster lived, and there he was
often visited by Dickens, who, in a room on the
flrst floor, read his Christmas book. The Chimes^
to a select and critical audience. He indicates it
as the residence of Mr. Tulkinghorn in chapter x.
of Bleak House. Here also James Spedding had
rooms, and is known to have put up his friend
Alfred Tennyson in the attic. But from the
memoir of the latter by his son one gathers that

240 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

he only stayed now and then in Lincoln's Inn
Fields, and that in early life his favourite London
lodging was at the south end of Norfolk Street,
Strand, " the last house at the bottom on the left.'^
That street is now altogether rebuilt.

None of the houses north of the passage to
Sardinia Street now have the roses and fleurs-de-
lys, but they occur on Nos. 51 and 52, and on 54
which is partly over the archway ; their brickwork,
however, is concealed by stucco. No. 55 has a
similar cornice and pilasters, but at present no
roses and fleurs-de-lys. The archway into Sardinia
Street from Lincoln's Inn Fields still has over
it a stone inscribed with the date 1648, and
the former name, "Duke Street," which was
changed to Sardinia Street in 1878, after the
Roman Catholic Chapel of S.S. Anselm and
Cecilia, in its earlier days the chapel of the Sar-
dinian Minister. Here in 1793 Fanny Burney
was married to General D'Arblay. In this
street lived Benjamin Franklin when employed
as a journeyman printer at Watt's office in Wild
Court. The greater part if not the whole of it will
shortly be obliterated.

To return for a moment to Portsmouth Street.
No. 14, the quaint little structure with a high-

WESTWARD, HO 241

pitched roof, on the north side, nearly opposite the
site of Portsmouth House, is quite worthy of
record on account of its age and picturesque
appearance, but its claim to be the original of
Dickens's Old Curiosity Shop, a claim which has
been also urged for a house in Fetter Lane, will
not, we fear, hold water. In the first place
Dickens himself says that "the old house had been
long ago pulled down, and a fine broad road was in
its place." An even stronger argument against the
legend is contained in an article contributed to the
Echo during December 1883, when the still exist-
ing house in Portsmouth Street was said to be
threatened with destruction, and in consequence
crowds were flocking to the spot. The writer,
Mr. Charles Tesseyman, makes the following clear
statement : — " My brother, who occupied No. 14
Portsmouth Street between 1868 and 1877, the
year of his decease, had the words *The Old
Curiosity Shop' placed over the front for purely
business purposes, as likely to attract custom to his
shop, he being a dealer in books, paintings, old
china, etc. Before 1868 — that is before my brother
had the words put up — no suggestion had ever
been made that the place was the veritable * Old
Curiosity Shop' immortalised by Dickens." The

242 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

late Mr. C. W. Heckethorn in his book on
Lincoln's Inn Fields boldly affirmed that it was a
relic of the Duchess of Portsmouth's dairy-house.

In 1897 a curious tavern, the Black Jack, on
the opposite side of the way, disappeared. It was
known in the neighbourhood as " the Jump," the
story being that Jack Sheppard on one occasion
escaped capture there by jumping out of a first-
floor window. The house was also connected by
tradition with Joe Miller of the Jest Book, who
was buried in the churchyard of Portugal Street,
now absorbed and obliterated by King's College
Hospital, which in its turn will soon be " improved "
away from this site, and be more or less forgotten.
Miller's tombstone (the second one), still in exist-
ence, describes him as " a tender husband, a sincere
friend, a facetious companion, and an excellent
comedian." It may be mentioned incidentally that
Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre stood on the south
side of the Fields at the back of what is now the
Royal College of Surgeons. Until 1816 a club
called "the Honourable Society of Jackers," to
which John Kemble and Theodore Hook belonged,
used to meet at the Black Jack. The adjacent
George the Fourth Tavern, which stood at the
north-east corner of Gilbert's Passage (the site

WESTWARD, HO 243

now occupied by the west end of Portugal Street),
was distinguished by a row of pillars supporting the
upper floors, and some enthusiasts identified it as
the " Magpie and Stump " of Pickwick. Between
the two houses was Black Jack Alley.

Working our way back to the space cleared
about the east end of the Strand for the great
scheme of reconstruction now in progress, we would
say a few words about Holywell Street, a narrow
lane which extended parallel with the Strand,
between the Churches of St. Clement Danes and
St. Mary-le-Strand, and got its name from the
"holy well" hard by. There was not much of
historical association about Holywell Street, its
charm consisting in the picturesque appearance of
the gabled houses built of timber and plaster work,
which showed us more or less what old London
must have looked like before the Great Fire. Their
beauty was not appreciated by the painstaking
Allen, who, in his History of London, dismisses it
as " a narrow inconvenient avenue of old ill-formed
houses." Opening into it from the north was
Lyons Inn, which has been referred to in a
previous chapter. At the corner of a house on the
opposite side a grotesque carving of a lion was to
be seen some years ago ; it is now in the Guild-

244 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

hall Museum. Almost the whole of the south side
is shown in our two illustrations, the carved pro-
jecting sign of a half-moon, one of the last surviv-
ing early shop signs, appearing in each. In
Strype's day, when Holywell Street was sometimes
called *'The Back Side of St. Clement's," it was
tenanted by "divers salesmen and piece-brokers,"
later silk-mercers were the chief occupants, and
they in their turn were by degrees displaced by
second-hand booksellers. For a time it had an
unsavoury reputation, hence the modern effort, not
very successful, to rename it Booksellers' Row.

From the point west of St. Clement Danes
where Holywell Street began, another street
branched off to the north-west, known as Wych
Street, which was a continuation of Drury Lane.
The name was a corruption of Aldewych, the
old name for Drury Lane; the London County
Council has wisely reintroduced it. Wych Street,
like Holywell Street, was formerly full of old
gabled houses. From the Angel Inn at the
east end, on the site of which Danes Inn lately
stood. Bishop Hooper was taken to die a cruel
death at Gloucester in 1554. A more cheerful
recollection is that of Mark Lemon, the well-
known editor of Punch, who had been previously

WESTWARD, HO 245

for some time landlord of the Shakespeare's Head,
No. 31 Wych Street, his presence attracting many
actors and journaUsts to the house. We doubt,
however, if either the saintly bishop or the genial
writer left quite such well-remembered traditions
here as Jack Sheppard, criminal, most of whose
exploits, like that at the Black Jack, are associated
with this neighbourhood. The gabled house on
the left in one of our sketches was sometimes called
Jack Sheppard's house, having been perhaps the
residence of the carpenter to whom he was appren-
ticed. Beyond it, on the same side, the back of the
Opera Comique can be discerned, its entrance was
in the Strand, an underground passage beneath
Holywell Street connecting it with the theatre.

Wych Street was of no great length, being
soon merged in Drury Lane. Close to the point
of junction, on the right, were Craven Buildings
and the Olympic Theatre, built where once stood
the residence of the valiant Earl of Craven, whose
devotion to the ex-Queen of Bohemia has suggested
to some a possible secret marriage. On the Strand
side, the two thoroughfares were divided by a
narrow street called Drury Court, once Maypole
Alley :—

Where Drurj^ Lane descends into the Strand.

246 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Immediately past this, in Drury Lane, there stood
until the autumn of 1890, two picturesque old
buildings. The plastered one, shown to the right
in our illustration, was for many years known as
the Cock and Pie public-house, and appears with
that name in a frontispiece to the European
Magazine for 1807. It was turned to other uses
long ago, but the old sign still existed (although
not in situ) within the writer's memory. Apart
from its quaintness, the house is worthy of record
as having been possibly, one may say probably,
that in which Nell Gwyn resided, as Pepys tells
us in the following words : — " May 1, 1667. Saw
pretty Nelly standing at her lodgings' door in
Drury Lane in her smock sleeves and bodice
looking upon one ; she seemed a mighty pretty
creature." Peter Cunningham, in his Story of
Nell Gwyn, places these lodgings at the top
of Maypole Alley over against the gate of
Craven House, a position quite coinciding with
that of the old Cock and Pie. After 1838
the well-known second-hand bookseller, George
Stockley, occupied the house. He convinced him-
self of Nell's connection with it, and his opinion
was shared by the late Edward Solly, F.K.S., who
wrote an interesting letter on the subject to Notes

WESTWARD, HO 247

and Queries, In spite of assertions to the contrary,
the building was not older than the reign of
Charles I., it appears to be marked in Faithorne's
map of 1658. The panelled wooden house next
door, probably coeval, was of a kind now almost
extinct. Drury Lane, which in the greater part
of the seventeenth century had been aristocratic,
gradually became disreputable, beginning (meta-
phorically) to go downhill about the time of Dutch
William. Gay sums up his opinion of it in the
well-known couplet : —

O may thy virtue guard thee through the roads
Of Drury's mazy courts and dark abodes.

And Pope, to whom poverty appeared a crime,
has satirised the man.

Who high in Drury Lane,
Lull'd by soft zephyrs through the broken pane^
Rhymes ere he wakes, and prints before Term ends,
Obhged by hunger and request of friends.

A few years ago it had not much improved, but,
owing to recent clearances and rebuildings, what
is left of it is fast becoming highly respectable and
commonplace.

We will now say a few words about the Strand
and its immediate neighbourhood before noting a
few houses farther west. The Strand, one of the

248 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

main thoroughfares which connect the City with
the west end, was once a rough country road,
deriving its name from the fact that it ran along-
side the river, like Strand-on-the- Green near Kew
Bridge. A petition of the inhabitants of West-
minster in 1315 declared that the way from
Temple Bar to Westminster Palace was interrupted
by thickets, and thirty- eight years later it is
declared to be "dangerous both to men and
carriages." Even in the reign of Henry VIII. it
was **full of pits and sloughs, very perilous and
noisome." Nevertheless great personages early
took up their quarters on the south or water side,
most of them before the Reformation being bishops.
They were followed by the leading noblemen,
whose mansions must have presented a splendid
appearance, with their gardens running down to
the river. But in course of time fashion moved
west, and except Northumberland House none of
them survived the eighteenth century, though the
present Somerset House, built by Sir William
Chambers between the years 1776 and 1786,
occupies the ground of the Protector Somerset's old
palace. A relic of the much older Savoy palace
remains, in the chapel of the Savoy, which, however,
after the fire of 1864 was almost entirely rebuilt.

WESTWARD, HO 249

If we journey along the Strand to-day, we shall
find nothmg aristocratic except here and there a
name, but a few old buildings still linger, and its
irregularity has hitherto given it a picturesque
charm. Those who wish to learn something of
the history of this famous street will find the
main facts connected with it admirably set forth
in Wheatley and Cunningham's London Past and
Present ; we will merely point out something of
what can still be seen.

Opposite the Law Courts, a very short distance
west of the site of Temple Bar, are a couple of old
houses, one of them. No. 229, with its upper stories
projecting over the street, and surmounted by a
railed-in platform, has a very quaint appearance.
As late as the year 1732, the road from Temple
Bar to Essex Street was called Temple Bar
without, as appears in the Parish Clerks' Survey.
Essex Street has a tavern numbered 40 and 41 and
called the Essex Head, where, towards the end of
his life. Dr. Johnson established a little evening
club, the landlord of the house being Samuel
Greaves, an old servant of the Thrales. It was
rebuilt not many years ago. At the south end of
Essex Street are steps leading down to the Thames
Embankment, with a building overhead which has,

250 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

attached to it, pilasters of some architectural pre-
tension, relics apparently of old Essex House.
Returning to the Strand, and making our way
westward, we shall find, beneath a house numbered
162a, a passage which leads to a narrow lane
winding down towards the Thames and to what is
announced on a board as "the old Roman Spring
Water Plunge Bath." Strand Lane is said to mark
the course of a streamlet which crossed the great
thoroughfare under Strand Bridge, and until the
formation of the Thames Embankment, it used to
lead to a landing-place. On its east side in a small
house or cottage is an ancient Roman bath,
which in almost any other country would have
been preserved with the utmost care. It is, or
was, composed of small Roman bricks, is some 13
feet long by 6 feet wide, and has a constant supply
of clear cold water. It seems incredible, but is
unfortunately the fact, that some years ago, not
apparently in any spirit of vandalism but simply
through ignorance, this unique relic was, from the
archaeological and artistic points of view, almost
completely ruined. Those who knew it before
that time will remember that on entering the
house there was a room to the right containing a
bath called the marble bath, said to have been

WESTWARD, HO 251

built for the Earl of Essex. In the year 1892 or
early in 1893, the site of the Earl of Essex's bath
having been sold, the owner of the Roman bath
took out the marble lining and placed it in the
latter, his work being finished off by a liberal
application of Portland cement, so that now only
a square foot or so of the once highly interest-
ing Roman bath remains uncovered. A row of
terrible modern tiles has also been placed along
the adjoining wall.

In the Strand, immediately east of the Strand
Lane Passage, and almost opposite to the east end
of Gibbs's Church which more or less marks the
site of the great maypole erected in 1661, there
used to be a group of four interesting old wooden
houses. Two of them, Nos. 164a and 165, still
remain, but those to the east were pulled down in
1893. They must have been built, one imagines,
before the Great Fire, for after that event a pro-
clamation forbade, under severe penalties, the build-
ing of timber houses in London. Perhaps even
more picturesque are two gabled houses on the
north side, farther west, with projecting bays round
which the fine eave cornice has been carried.
They adjoin the Adelphi Theatre, being numbered
413 and 414. Beneath is the passage to Heathcock

252 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Court, the entrance to which, as Peter Cunning-
ham tells us, was distinguished by a heath-cock in
a handsome shell canopy, taken down in July 1844.
Almost immediately to the west, over the entrance
to Thatched House Court and New Exchange
Court, stand old buildings soon to be cleared away,
and here are the headquarters of the excellent
Corps of Commissionaires, founded by the late Sir
Edward Walter, K.C.B. The name of the latter
court recalls the former existence of the New
Exchange or Britain's Burse, which really stood on
the opposite side of the Strand, covering the ground
previously occupied by the stables of Durham
House. The first stone of it was laid in 1608, and
there the wife of General Monk, who died Duchess
of Albemarle, had, in the time of her first husband
Thomas Radford, carried on business as a dealer in
wash-balls, powder, gloves, etc., and taught plain
work to girls. An engraving of the New Ex-
change, by John Harris, is in the Crace collection.
Thatched House Court took its name from a half-
timbered building, which stood between the two
alleys and was called the old Thatched House
Tavern. It was also occasionally spoken of as Nell
Gwyn's dairy, and after being taken over for
official purposes by the Commissionaires was rebuilt

WESTWARD, HO 253

some years ago. Immediately north of Thatched
House Court and New Exchange Court is Maiden
Lane, where stood the Cider Cellars Tavern, which,
likely enough, Thackeray had in his mind when he
portrayed the Cave of Harmony, or was it the
Back Kitchen ? Doubtless, however, he chiefly
drew his experiences of this particular phase of
tavern life from Evans's at the north-west corner
of Covent Garden, which he frequented during the
reign of " Paddy " Green, perhaps earlier. That
fine old mansion, once the residence of Edward
Russell, Earl of Oxford, is still standing apparently
intact, but not much else is left of old Covent
Garden ; the destruction in 1889 of the east side,
which contained the Bedford Hotel with the Inigo
Jones piazza below, being from the artist's point
of view a sad loss. Having touched on Evans's
and the Cider Cellars, one is reminded that a house
which provided entertainments of a somewhat
similar class stood formerly in Fountain Court on
the south side of the Strand, now quite modernised
and called Savoy Buildings. This was the Coal
Hole Tavern, previously the Unicorn, where about
1826 the Wolf Club used to meet, of which
Edmund Kean was a leading member. Finally it
became the Occidental Tavern, and fell down in

264 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

1887. Fountain Court was called after the Foun-
tain Tavern, the predecessor of the now gorgeous
Simpson's which gave its name to a political club
opposed to Sir Robert Walpole. At No. 3
Fountain Court William Blake, that strange man
of genius, resided during his later years, and there
he died in 1827.

A bare enumeration of one or two other changes
in the Strand and its neighbourhood must suffice.
The Adelphi, an interesting experiment of the
Adam brothers, is still to some extent as they left
it, though the Adelphi Buildings, which originally
encroached on the Thames, are now divided from
it by the Embankment Garden, and look dwarfed
alongside of the huge Savoy and Cecil Hotels.
At No. 5 of the terrace (now No. 4) David Garrick
lived for some years, and his widow continued to
occupy it until her death in 1822. The ceiling of
the front drawing-room was decorated by Zucchi.

Buckingham Street is a memento of George
Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, under whose direc-
tion it was built with the adjoining streets, about
1774-75, on the site of York House and grounds.
Strype calls it " a spacious street with good houses,
well inhabited by gentry, especially those on each
side fronting the Thames. The large house at the

WESTWARD, HO 255

bottom of the street on the east side was occupied
by Peter the Great, and here is a room on the first
floor with a fine plastered and painted ceiling ; a
smaller painted ceiling decorates a room on the
ground floor. At the top of this house David
Copperfield lodged for a time in " a singularly
desirable and compact set of chambers with a view
of the river,'' and he then occasionally had a plunge
in the Roman bath. It was thought by the late
Mr. F. G. Kit ton that Charles Dickens, who thus
alludes to the rooms in Buckingham Street, had
himself stayed there. On this floor William Black
the novelist certainly resided. An ominous board
lately put up in front of this building seems to
foretell that it may not long survive. Opposite,
in a house since rebuilt and numbered 14, Samuel
Pepys, the Diarist lived, succeeding his friend,
William Hewer. W. Etty, R.A., occupied
chambers and a painting-room in the present house ;
and Stanfield, the marine and landscape painter,
also had rooms there. At the end of Buckingham
Street, in the Embankment Garden, stands that
good piece of architecture, York Watergate, all
that is left of the house which seems to have been
chiefly designed for the first Duke of Buckingham
of the Villiers family. This Watergate, a well-

^56 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

proportioned structure, was built by Nicholas
Stone, master mason, who claimed the design,
which has been attributed to Gerbier, and oftener
to Inigo Jones. Being now in a hollow and some
distance from the river, it is seen to far less
advantage than was originally the case.

Before our arrival at Charing Cross it may be
observed that, at the time of writing. No. 59, the
unpretentious house in which for so many years
Messrs. Coutts and Co. carried on their business, is
being altered by the London County Council into
whose hands it has come. It was designed by the
brothers Adam for old Mr. Coutts, the banker,
who married Miss Mellon, afterwards Duchess of
St. Albans, and contained some marble mantel-
pieces of the Cipriani and Bacon schools. Here
the New Exchange had previously stood. It is per-
haps needless to add that the house lately built for
this historic firm occupies the site of the Lowther
Arcade, which had been formed in 1830-32.

One may still say of Charing Cross what was
said by Dr. Johnson a hundred and thirty years
ago, that here is "the full tide of human existence."
But if he could come back to life and revisit this
spot, the only object he would recognise is Le
Suer's fine statue of Charles I. Until 1874,

WESTWARD, HO 257

Northumberland House, the last of the great
Strand mansions, remained. It was originally
built for Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton,
about the year 1605, and passed by marriage to
the Percy family. The lion which formed so
prominent an object on the Strand front was
erected in 1752, and now adorns the river front of
Syon House.

Our work is now drawing towards a close, and,
as we make our way west, we feel more and more
how impossible it is within the limitations of a
single volume to describe the vast majority of
interesting London buildings which have been
destroyed of late years or are now threatened. In
Craig's Court, within a stone's throw of Charing
Cross, is that fine eighteenth - century mansion
Harrington House, which at the time of writing
is in imminent peril. The Spring Gardens which
we remember, descendant of a veritable garden,
has ceased to exist, the Mall has been transmuted,
the once delightful region of Great College Street,
Westminster, where gentlefolks of moderate means
could dwell in peace among congenial surroundings,
is almost entirely swept away. In Pall Mall,
Schomberg House, now part of the War Office,
can hardly long survive, Gloucester House has

258 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

just disappeared. The list might be continued
almost indefinitely.

All that we can now do is to give an account of
the particular buildings which here are figured in
this volume, and we will begin with one which for-
tunately is not at present threatened, but we must
not forget that from time to time attacks have been
made on it because it is said to be old-fashioned and
inconvenient. In any case, a most historic house is
No. 10 Downing Street, facing the Foreign Office,
which has been the official home of the first Lord
of the Treasury ever since Sir Robert Walpole
moved into it from St. James's Square in 1735. It
had belonged to the Crown, and had been granted
by George I. to Baron Bothmar, the Hanoverian
minister, for life. The residence really consists of
two houses with a covered way between them.
That which looks towards the street is a plain
structure, resembling No. 11. The building with
which it is incorporated stands in a garden which
had once no doubt formed part of St. James's
Park, and on a misty morning in* spring, one
might imagine it to be on the outskirts of some
peaceful country town. In the second volume of
the Record published by the London Topo-
graphical Society, Mr. Walter Spiers, now Soane

OF
C -

WESTWARD, HO 259

Curator, has proved that this house was designed
originally by Wren, it has since, however, been
much altered. At the back was the famous Cock-
pit, its site now covered by Kent's Treasury build-
ings. In the year 1888, when Mr. W. H. Smith
was occupying No. 10 Downing Street, I was
privileged to do a series of paintings there, two of
which have been reproduced for this book. The
first view shows the south side, the part which
faces Downing Street being discernible behind a
tree on the right ; the building to the left is the
Treasury. I have ventured to clothe the little
figures in costumes which harmonise more with
the old place than the frock coats and trousers of
the present day. The windows opening on to the
terrace belong to the famous cabinet room, where
Pitt and Sir Robert Peel, Disraeli, Gladstone, and
Palmerston, have often sat. Of late years, however,
the cabinet councils have been held elsewhere. The
second illustration shows the garden, the house being
on the left side, and the Foreign Office in the middle
distance. In the large reception room on the first
floor are a series of interesting portraits, the best
perhaps being that of Richard Weston, Earl of
Portland, Lord High Treasurer in 1633. In his
speech delivered at the Lord Mayor's banquet,

260 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

November 9, 1900, Mr. Choate, the American
ambassador, gave an interesting account, by no
means complimentary, of Sir George Downing
(partly educated at Harvard College) who built
the street named after him, which Mr. Choate
described as " the smallest and, at the same time,
the greatest street in the world, because it lies at
the hub of the gigantic wheel which encircles the
globe under the name of the British Empire."

Westminster was formerly endowed with various
quaint almshouses which have gradually been
altered or improved away. One of the last, and
perhaps the most attractive, was Emanuel Hospital
(sometimes called Dacre's almshouses), on the west
side of James Street, Westminster, founded
pursuant to the will of Anne, Lady Dacre, widow
of Gregory, last Lord Dacre of the south, and
sister of Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset, the
poet, "towards the relief of aged people, and
bringing up of children in virtue and good and
laudable acts in the same hospital." On the death
in 1623 of the last surviving executor of Lady
Dacre, the guardianship of the hospital descended,
by the Charter of Incorporation, to the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London. The
hospital was rebuilt during the reign of Queen

WESTWARD, HO 261

Anne, and afforded protection to a varying number
of old men and women (formerly twenty-four)
who belonged to Westminster, Chelsea, or Hayes
in Middlesex. The schools had been disconnected
with it, and formed a portion of the Westminster
United School after 1873. In spite of much
opposition from those who loved the picturesque
group of buildings, Emanuel Hospital was closed
in 1892. The site was afterwards sold for £37,500,
a new scheme being drawn up for the regulation
of the charity.

Our illustration gives a general view of the
hospital. In the centre, surmounted by a little
clock turret and showing a pediment with the
Dacre arms, is the chapel whence people are issuing
or have issued, the front figure, with staff, gown,
and gold-laced hat, being that of an almsman who
officiated as warden. According to the original
Statutes, the warden had to " keep the key of the
porch or foregate of the ho spit all," which was to
be " locked at eight of the clock at night, and kept
locked untill six in the morning, from the feast of
All Saynts untill the purificacon of the blessed
Virgin Mary, and at nyne in the night, untill fyve
in ye morning, for the residue of the whole year."
He was also to keep the key of the chapel "to

262 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

foresee that fyre or candle bee not dangerously
used, to require and exact of each one of the poor
bretheren and sisters th' observacon of the ordinances
and statutes, and from tyme to tyme gently to
admonish such as bee negligent and faultie, or (if
the qualitie of the fault or their perseverance in
disorder so require) to complayn of the delinquents
to the governors of the said hospital!." The
master, the last of whom was the Rev. Joseph
Maskell, historian of the Church of All Hallows,
Barking, lived close to the chapel, and the old men
in the tenements to the left, with a garden of
their own behind. The women were housed on
the right hand side. The entrance, facing James
Street, had handsome wrought-iron gates. In the
old church at Chelsea there is a stately monu-
ment, with recumbent figures, to Lord and Lady
Dacre.

CHAPTER VIII

THE WESTERN FRINGE

The City's sure in Progresse I surmise.

Or going to revell it in some disorder.
Without the Walls, without the Liberties,

Where she neede fear noe Mayor nor Recorder.

Thomas Freeman, London's Progresse (1614).

This, our last chapter, must be even more frag-
mentary than the previous one. We hope that it
is a mere instahnent of further efforts to set forth
in detail the vast changes which have taken place
since the speculative builder conquered and annexed
what were a few years ago the western suburbs.
The following brief notes relate chiefly to houses
of which there are illustrations. We will begin
near the river, working our way west and north.

Macaulay reminds us that, towards the end of
the reign of Charles II. Chelsea was "a quiet
country village, with about a thousand inhabitants,
the baptisms averaging little more than forty in

263

264 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

the year." It was, however, or had been, a village
of palaces. Now, although still numbering famous
people among its inhabitants, it is merely a part
of the huge mass of London. The picturesque
wooden bridge has gone, old taverns and wharves
have been cleared away for the Embankment, Cre-
morne Gardens no longer furnish subjects for
"nocturnes" or "harmonies," but evening mist
still " clothes the riverside with poetry as with a
veil," and something of the history of the region
may still be read in the ancient Church, the Physic
Garden, in Chelsea Hospital, and various private
dwellings, such as Lindsey House, like the house
of similar name in Lincoln's Inn Fields, a former
home of the Berties.

Our mission, we feel, is here to record the less
known buildings which are in danger of being
forgotten. One of these was the old Six Bells
public -house in the King's Road, the back of
which, with its still extant bowling-green, was
very picturesque. The present ambitious struc-
ture, with the same sign, replaced it in 1901.
Another quaint building was the old fish shop
in that part of Cheyne Walk which used to be
known as Lombard Street. It was four doors
west of a tavern called the Rising Sun, and in

THE WESTERN FRINGE 265

former years had been a freehold with right of
pasturage on the long extinct Chelsea Common.
In front of the gable was a plaster or terra-cotta
medallion, with a head in relief which might have
been copied from a classical coin. This belonged
to a style of decoration common in the seventeenth
century. The writer has before him a view dated
1792 of a building then on Tower Hill with similar
medallions. Sometimes the heads of Roman
emperors were thus placed, sometimes the Cardinal
Virtues and other emblematic figures. The medal-
lion here depicted is now in the Chelsea Free
Library. The fish shop in Cheyne Walk, long
kept by Mrs. Elizabeth Maunder, was pulled down
in November 1892. There is an etching, also a
lithograph, of the lower part, by J. M. Whistler,
who spent so many years of his life in Chelsea, and
did so much of his finest work there. It is a
touching fact that he came back at the end to a
place he must have loved, and died, July 17, 1903,
in a house built on this very site.

Farther west, no great distance from the site of
Cremorne Gardens, and next but one to a tavern
called the Aquatic, which is now, we believe, the
goal of the race for Doggett's Coat and Badge,
stands a cottage, one of a pair now joined together

^66 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

and numbered 118 Cheyne Walk, to which in his
old age, J. W. M. Turner, the great landscape
painter, used to retire from his house in Queen
Anne Street. He, no doubt, selected the humble
dwelling at Chelsea chiefly because from its low
roof, still protected by a wrought-iron railing which
he caused to be placed there, he got a fine view of
Chelsea Reach, now obscured by the modern house
next door which projects in front. For the sake of
privacy he took the name of the landlady, and was
known in the neighbourhood as Mr. Booth,
Admiral Booth, or " Puggy " Booth. The cottage
is now somewhat below the level of the roadway ;
an old inhabitant, formerly a waterman, told the
writer that fifty or sixty years ago it was only
separated from the Thames by a raised path.
Turner died here December 19, 1851, in a room,
the window of which is immediately below the rail-
ing. Afterwards, for many years, the place re-
mained outwardly in much the same condition as
when he left it. By degrees it became dilapidated,
the little trees in front disappeared, and in 1895
there was an ominous announcement that the
property was to be sold for building purposes.
The late Mrs. Haweis made efforts to save it, and
there was a correspondence on the subject in the

THE WESTERN FRINGE 267

Times, After remaining empty and dilapidated
for some months, the two cottages were bought
and judiciously restored by one who valued
Turner's memory. The accompanying sketch re-
presents them some years before the restoration,
and very much as they were in his time.

Continuing west along the river one soon comes
to the Cremorne Arms tavern, close to which
is the site of Cremorne Gardens, mostly built
over, in part absorbed by a firm of nurserymen,
on whose premises, it is said, the entrance to
the " hermit's cave " may still be seen, to explore
the mysteries of which we have before now ex-
pended a superfluous shilling. Farther on at no
great distance is Sandford Creek, connected with
the river and separating the parishes of Chelsea
and Fulham. Another form of the name occurs
in Stamford Bridge, not far off, which now spans
the railroad. A rivulet or watercourse which,
according to Mr. Feret, rose somewhere in the
neighbourhood of the present Kensal Green Ceme-
tery, once found its way into the Thames at
Sandford Creek. In its southern part it divided
Fulham Parish first from Kensington, and south of
Stamford Bridge from Chelsea. In 1827-28 this
lower portion was widened and formed into the

268 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Kensington Canal, about two miles in length, and
giving passage to vessels of 100 tons burden. In
1845, except for a short distance at the mouth, it
was drained and turned into a railway line. By
the creek, at Sand's End as it was called, the
most noteworthy building was Sandford House,
not yet destroyed though now partly shut up
and dilapidated, which belongs to the Gas Light
and Coke Company (formerly the Imperial Gas
Company) and is included in their premises.
Mr. Feret, whose Fulham Old and New, pub-
lished in 1900, is a monument of patient industry,
with the help of former historians has told
us what is worth telling about this ancient
manor house. In 1549 the Dean, and Chapter of
Westminster conveyed Sandford Manor to King
Edward VI., whose sister Mary sold it in 1558 to
William Maynard, citizen and merchant of London.
In 1630 Sir William Maynard, son of the last-
named person, died in Ireland, being then possessed
of this manor. A halo of romance has attached
itself to the house because of Nell Gwyn's sup-
posed connection with it. We have already
mentioned the fact that she undoubtedly lodged
in Lincoln's Inn Fields and Drury Lane, but the
best authorities fail to trace her to Sand's End,

THE WESTERN FRINGE 269

for although Faulkner says positively that she
resided at Sandford Manor House, his only
evidence is that when he wrote in 1812 **a
medallion in plaster of the fair Eleanor" had some
years previously been found on the estate and was
then in possession of the owner. An archaic
thimble was later found there with the initials
N. G., and various other relics.

The Domestic Intelligencer for August 5, 1679,
contains the following item of information : —

"We hear that Madame Ellen Gywn's mother, sitting
lately by the water side at her house by the neat -houses,
near Chelsey, fell accidentally into the water and was
drowned."'''

Mr. Feret suggests that this accident may
possibly have happened here, and not on the low
ground near the Thames side at Pimlico, as is
generally supposed. A public-house near this spot
still recalls Nell Gwyn's name, and her memory is
cherished in the neighbourhood.

Another tradition connects Sandford Manor
House with the famous Joseph Addison, and
doubtless he lived occasionally at Sand's End,
the hamlet by the creek, but there is no evidence
whatever that his dwelling was actually the Manor
House. From "Sandy End" in 1708 he wrote

270 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

several letters containing pleasant proof of the then
rural character of the neighbourhood, to the young
Earl of Warwick and Holland, whose mother he
afterwards married. That year Sir Richard Steele
in a note written at Sand's End to his wife, says,
**I am come hither to dinner with Mr. Addison
and Mr. Clay."

The Manor House remained in the possession
of the Maynard family until Robert Maynard died
without issue in 1756. It afterwards passed to
female relatives and became identified with trade
and manufacture. In 1762 a factory for the
making of saltpetre was established here, the
managers being apparently Frenchmen. In 1790
a pottery business was moved to this house from
Little Cheyne Row, Chelsea; it continued until
1798, shortly after which date the premises were
adapted for the purpose of manufacturing cloth.
Afterwards they were successively used for the
business of cooperage and of bleach and dye works,
until in 1824 the Imperial Gas Company purchased
the Sandford Manor House property, the gasworks
now covering no less than twenty-eight acres. The
ancient house is now plaster fronted, and is divided
into two dwellings, being approached through a
short garden. In the more interesting portion.

THE WESTERN FRINGE 271

dismantled some time ago, dwelt the late Mr.
McMinn, an official of the Gas Company for over
fifty years. It has a fine well staircase, here shown,
which from the character of the woodwork seems
to be as old as the first half of the seventeenth
century. This staircase is handsomely panelled ;
a twisted iron rod has been inserted in one of the
newels for strengthening purposes. The front of
the house was modernised about the year 1844,
but the back with its tiled roof is still quite old
fashioned. Of this we have given a view from
the pretty back garden, which a few years ago was
well kept up. The house is oblong in plan, but
this side may originally have had shallow wings,
the brickwork in the centre being comparatively
modern.

Kensington, although quite as interesting as
its southern neighbour, perhaps emerged from
obscurity at a somewhat later date. One seems
naturally to apply to it Leigh Hunt's appropriate
phrase, "the old court suburb." It is, however,
mentioned in Doomsday, as Chenesitun, when it
contained vineyards, and Aubrey de Vere held it
of the Bishop of Coutances. Lysons, writing in
1795, says that the parish contains about 1910
acres of land, about half of which is pasture and

272 LONDON .VANISHED AND VANISHING

meadow, about 360 acres are arable land for corn
only, about 230 in market gardens, about 260
cultivated sometimes for corn, sometimes for
garden crops, and 100 acres of nursery ground.

The parish register begins in the year 1539, and
some of the more interesting entries are given in
Faulkner's History of Kensington^ among them the
baptism in 1647 of John and William, sons of
Colonel John Lambert, "at Sir William Lister's
house of Coldhearne," Earl's Court. This was
the General Lambert who cut such a conspicuous
figure during the Commonwealth. He married
Sir William Lister's daughter, and, after the death
of his father-in-law, resided in the house until about
the year 1657. After the Restoration he was
exiled to Guernsey and died a prisoner in 1683.
The house, latterly known as Coleherne Court,
with its extensive garden, survived until the year
1900. Its last occupants were members of the
Tattersall family. Another interesting house was
that built by John Hunter, the famous surgeon,
on land bought of the Earl of Warwick. It was
destroyed in 1886. The writer was once privileged
to glance at the Kensington parish books, and
failed to discover an earlier assessment than that of
June 28, 1683, which produced £62 " towards the

THE WESTERN FRINGE 27S

maintenance of the pension poor." There were
then eighty-five ratepayers, the one who paid most
being the Countess of Holland and Warwick, who
was rated at £3 : 6s., while Lady Campden of
Campden House had to pay £2 : 10s., the next
being Lady Sheffield assessed at £l :11 :6 ; Lady
Grace Pierrepoint, £l : 10s. ; and the Earl of Craven,
whose house was at Kensington Gravel Pits, £l.
Later, losses by " dipt " money are recorded. In
1698 we read of Kensington Wells, where water
was supplied for medicinal purposes, and the name
appears for some years. They were in what was
called the West Town. By the year 1713 the
assessment for the parish had been raised to
£381 : 6 : 9. Kensington Palace, which is really
in the parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster, was
bought for 18,000 guineas from the Earl of
Nottingham, son of the Lord Chancellor, by King
William III. very soon after he came to the throne.
It has apparently remains of the original house,
but the most interesting portion is that designed
by Wren. There are large subsequent additions
by that mediocre architect, William Kent.

Modern South Kensington sprang, in fact, from
the Great Exhibition of 1851. It is mostly in the
old hamlet of Brompton which always belonged to

274 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Kensington, but part is in St. Margaret's, West-
minster. A large sum having been made out of
the Exhibition, afterwards supplemented by parlia-
ment, the commissioners bought landed property
on which the chief public buildings of South
Kensington stand. The Victoria and Albert
Museum, now, after many years, being completed
on an important scale, is partly on the Villars and
partly on the Harrington estate. This latter came to
the Earls of Harrington by marriage, being part of
the land attached to the ancient Hale House, some-
times called Cromwell House. The Gore House
estate was also acquired from the Commissioners,
and a small piece of land from the trustees of
Smith's Charity. It is perhaps superfluous to add
that for thirteen years, until her financial ruin in
1849, Gore House was the home of the "most
gorgeous " Countess of Blessington, and there she
gathered round her many distinguished men. She
spoke of it as her " country house," and said that
the grounds, three acres in extent, were "full of
lilacs, laburnum, nightingales, and swallows." The
nucleus of the museum was the group of iron build-
ings vulgarly known as the Brompton Boilers, thus
foreshadowed in Sir Henry Cole's reminiscences :
— "June 14, 1855. To Buckingham Palace. Met

THE WESTERN FRINGE 275

Lord Stanley, Sir William Cubitt and Bo wring,
who came about erecting an iron house at Kens-
ington." As time went on the old houses here
depicted were taken over and absorbed by the
establishment. They stood in a garden shaded by
fine trees, and one of them had on a rain-pipe the
date 1716. Doubtless, if their walls could have
spoken they might have told us some interesting
tales. Nothing, however, of special interest has
come to the writer's knowledge concerning their
earlier history. In later years various officials there
found a home, among them Captain Fowke and Sir
John Donnelly, who occupied the central house
known as the " Cottage," which had a good staircase
and other pleasant architectural features. These
buildings were destroyed about the end of 1899.

In his book called Four Generations of a
Literary Family, Mr. W. C. Hazlitt thus speaks of
the district in which the museum stands. "The
region now incorporated in South Kensington, but
formerly known as Old Brompton, was once and
long a country village or little more. The ancient
mansions which abounded there (in my youth), the
historical sites or records, the delightful residences
in grounds, the market gardens, and best of all the
quaint old Vale have vanished like a dream." The

^76 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

parish, however, is still rich in the possession of
Holland House, which for generations after it
came into the hands of the Fox family was such
an important social and political centre, and is
to-day the most stately of London residences.
Campden Hill even now contains large private
gardens and a few historic houses, while until
quite recently several old mansions in the town
itself remained intact. Of these Scarsdale House
was perhaps the most interesting. It stands, or
stood, a little way back, near the north-east corner
of Wright's Lane, within a stone's throw of the
Kensington High Street railway station. Of its
early history little is known, but the main part of
the building was perhaps coeval with Kensington
Square. If called Scarsdale House in its earlier
days, the name may have come from Nicholas
Leke, Earl of Scarsdale, of whom Pope wrote : —

Each mortal has his pleasure — none deny
Scarsdale his bottle, Darty his ham-pie.

One would prefer, however, to connect it always
with the Curzon family. I am told by a descendant
that in all probability the house first belonged to
John Curzon, who is perhaps best remembered as
having owned a horse of Eastern blood, one of the
progenitors of the modern racehorse. For a short

THE WESTERN FRINGE 277

time Lord Barnard occupied it ; in 1721 William
Curzon was living here, and was one of the largest
contributors to the parish poor-rate. Early in last
century it was occupied by a ladies' boarding school,
but many years ago became the residence of the
Honourable Edward Curzon (second son of Mr.
Robert Curzon and Lady de la Zouche), who
bought it from his cousin. Lord Scarsdale. The
Jacobean mantelpieces, formerly in the drawing-
room, once graced the historic mansion of Loseley.
Those who desire to call to mind this ideal
dwelling and its surroundings, as they existed a
generation ago, had best consult Miss Thackeray,
for Scarsdale House must always live in the pages
of Old Kensington. This was Lady Sarah's home,
"with its many windows dazzling as the sun
travelled across the old-fashioned housetops," and
here was the room with the blue tiles which Lady
Sarah's husband brought from the Hague the year
before he died. The garden is now no more,
though part of its ground can still be traced, and
the house, or a mutilated remnant of it, forms part
of a great commercial establishment facing the
High Street. On the opposite side of Wright's
Lane stood the old-fashioned "Terrace," facing
the High Street, with delightful gardens at the

278 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

back, all swept away in 1893. At No. 6 John
Leech lived and died.

As time goes on Kensington Square is some-
what losing its look of old-fashioned seclusion. It
has had many notable and a few notorious in-
habitants. The Duchess of Mazarin seems to have
been among the earliest of the latter class ; she was
here apparently in 1692, but by 1695 she had
migrated to Chelsea, where she had a house in
Paradise Row, and in that and subsequent years
was a defaulter to the parish rates. Her death
occurred in 1699. We are tempted to refer to a
very different inhabitant of Kensington Square —
Thomas Herring, successively Bishop of Bangor,
and Archbishop of York and Canterbury, who
occupied a house, now destroyed, at the east end
next to the south side. He was a bachelor, but
his cousin Harriet, co-heiress, married Sir Francis
Baring, ancestor of the various members of that
distinguished family. The Earls of Cromer and
Northbrook quarter the Herring arms. Her sister
married a Stone, from whom the writer is descended.
Talleyrand was said by the late Dr. Merriman to
have lived in this house. In 1793 he dates a
letter to Lord Grenville from Kensington Square.
Among regrettable losses is that of the little

THE WESTERN FRINGE 279

Greyhound Tavern, also on the east side, with
sculptured figures of greyhounds above the porch,
which as Thackeray tells us, was '' over against my
Lady Castlewood's house." In Young Street, hard
by, at the house with the double bow windows,
once called " the Cottage," Thackeray himself lived
for some years, and there he wrote Vanity Fair.

Next to Holland House, the most important
residence in Kensington was formerly Campden
House, named after Campden in Gloucestershire,
from which Sir Baptist Hicks, its first owner, when
raised to the peerage, took his title. By marriage
with his daughter it passed to a Noel, from whom
the Earl of Gainsborough is descended. Here
the Princess, afterwards Queen Anne, with her
son, the young Duke of Gloucester, lived for a
time, the place being selected on account of its
healthy situation. In 1862 the old house was
almost completely destroyed by fire, about the
origin of which there was so much suspicion that
a lawsuit followed on the question of insurance
money. Afterwards the house was rebuilt more
or less in the old style, and came into the hands
of Mr. Alexander Elder, a gentleman connected
with Australian trade, after whose death in 1885
his family continued to reside there. The site

280 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

of the house and the large and beautiful grounds
are now covered by flats and chambers. An
adjoining residence, known as Little Campden
House, Gloucester Walk, is said to have been
built for the reception of the Princess Anne's suite
when she was at the larger mansions. It is now
occupied by Mr. Arthur Cope, A.R.A., of the
family of Sir Walter Cope, from whom Sir Baptist
Hicks originally obtained this land — in payment of
a gambling debt, if tradition may be believed.
Another old dwelling, known as Bullingham House,
which stood a short distance to the south-east, near
Church Street, and is described in Loftie's Ken-
migton, was destroyed in 1895. It is chiefly
famous from the fact that Sir Isaac Newton died
there, after a short residence. The entrance was
in Pitt Street, with a back entrance close to the
old George Tavern in Church Street. Of late the
site has been covered by Bullingham Mansions.

Our account of Kensington appears to be little
else than an obituary notice of delightful old
houses standing in what auctioneers would call
" their own grounds " which of late years have died
a violent death at the hands of the speculative
builder. The process is still going on and will
perhaps continue until every available foot of space

THE WESTERN FRINGE 281

is covered with bricks and mortar. We will con-
clude our melancholy list with York House and
Maitland House on the east side of Church Street,
their grounds extending from the site of the
old vicarage to the passage which leads to
Palace Green. They were in appearance pleasant
Georgian buildings, standing back a short distance
from the roadway, with fine trees in front and
gardens in the rear. York House, the more
northern of the two, was for some years the
residence of the Princess Sophia, a daughter of
George III., and here, in the presence of the
Duchess of Kent, the Duchess of Cambridge, the
Duchess of Gloucester, and the Duchess of Inver-
ness, she breathed her last on May 27, 1848. For
a few years, from 1884 onwards, it was occupied
by Mr. Richard Potter, father of Mrs. Leonard
Courtney ; the last resident there was Mrs. John
Jones, after whose death the house remained un-
tenanted. The most famous occupant of Maitland
House was Sir David Wilkie. James Mill, father
of John Stuart Mill, had previously lived there,
he first occupied it in the year 1830.

To complete our volume we will say a few
words about three or four isolated buildings, here
portrayed. One of these, a humble public-house

282 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

called the Red Cow, was in the Hammersmith
Road, just beyond St. Paul's School on the same
side. Albeit, very picturesque and of considerable
age, it had, as far as the writer is aware, no story
worth the telling. He has sometimes amused
himself with the idea that Addison, when living
at Holland House, after his apparently rather un-
congenial marriage to the Countess of Warwick
and Holland may have dropped in there occasion-
ally ; but his regular house of call appears to have
been the White Horse Inn at the bottom of
Holland Lane. The Red Cow, once dear to the
heart of Charles Keene the artist, disappeared in
the autumn of 1897. The brick house next to
it, still standing and formerly called Fairlawn, was,
from 1786 to 1793, occupied as a school by Dr.
Charles Burnev, son of the famous musician and
author, and brother of Fanny Burney, afterwards
Madame D'Arblay. It is now John Barker's
auction mart.

In Queen Street, Hammersmith, on the east
side of the church, stands a remarkable building
called Bradmore House, now divided into two.
Quite independent of this modern partition, which
converts it into a north and south residence, there
is a structural division, the part facing west, which

\^MA^

OF THE

THE WESTERN FRINGE 283

stands back a short distance from the roadway,
being much older, though less interesting, than the
eastern portion, which, with its balustrade and
handsome pilasters, has no small architectural merit,
reminding one somewhat of the work of Wren.
It faces a garden, and is still intact, although the
whole site of 1^ acres has been, and perhaps still
is, to let on building lease.

This structure stands on what formed part of
the Butterwick estate, which once belonged to
Edmund Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave, and took its
name from a village in Lincolnshire with which
his family was connected. Faulkner tells us that
his residence here was pulled down in 1836. The
accounts of the property by Lysons and Faulkner
are somewhat difficult to follow, there being
apparently some confusion between this and the
house destroyed in 1836. It seems, however, clear
that what we call Bradmore House, which may
have been the same as the Manor House or Farm
of Butterwick, or " Great House " of old deeds, in
1700 came into the hands of Henry Feme, receiver-
general of the customs, who added the more
modern part which forms the subject of our illustra-
tion, intending it, according to Lysons, "for the
residence of Mrs. Oldfield, the celebrated actress,

284 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

to whom he was at that time much attached." It
was afterwards bought by the father of Sir EUjah
Impey, who was probably born here. Whilst
owned by the Impeys it got the name of Bradmore
House. It was sold by the representatives of that
family in 1821, and divided into two residences not
many years afterwards.

We will conclude our travels by visiting the
once rural village of Paddington, where Mrs.
Siddons had her country home, and there we
will say a few words about an old thatched
cottage with which she was probably familiar,
for in her day houses hereabouts were few and
far between. It stood on the west side of
the former burial-ground of St. Mary's Church
(now a public garden), and behind No. 12 St.
Mary's Terrace, Paddington Green, and in 1895
was occupied by Welsh-speaking people connected
with a temporary Welsh chapel hard by, who,
strange to say, could hardly utter a word of
English. The walls of this cottage were com-
posed of pebbles and broken flint plastered over,
it was shaded by pleasant trees and had some
vacant space around it. The date of its erection
is not known. In the Bayswater Annual for 1885
there was a statement that in 1820 the cottage

THE WESTERN FRINGE 285

belonged to a Mr. Chambers, " a banker of Bond
Street." The occupants then commanded an
uninterrupted view of the Harrow Road as it
turned northward. Claremont House, within a
short distance of Chambers's Cottage, was re-
markable for the " Claremont Caverns " about
which many strange tales were told. They were
the work of Mr. Southgate Stevens, who here
carried on, in secret, processes for extracting or
attempting to extract gold from quartz and other
minerals. He was said to have spent some £30,000
in this fruitless quest. An illustration and a short
account of Chambers's Cottage will be found in
the Builder for May 18 and June 8, 1895; it
was demolished a year or two afterwards, to
make room for St. David's Welsh Church, and
was then generally thought to be the last build-
ing of the kind in London. At the time of
writing, however, there is still, I believe, a
thatched cottage in the now metropolitan borough
of Camberwell.

INDEX

Adam Brothers, 254, 256

Addison, Joseph, 269, 270, 282

Adelphi, 254

Albemarle, Duchess of, 252

Aldgate High Street, 78, 79

All Hallows, Upper Thames Street,

Church of, 127-129
Ancaster, fourth Duke of, 238
Ancaster family {see Lindsey, Earl

oO, 169
Anchor Brewery, South war k, 40
Angel Inn at back of St. Clement's,

244
Anne, Princess, afterwards Queen,

at Campden House, 279
Her Suite at Little Campden

House, 280
St. Anne, Blackfriars, Church of,

117
Arch Row, Lincoln's Inn Fields,

233
Art Workers' Guild, 215, 227
Austin Friars, No. 10, 88, 89
Church of, 88, No. 21, 89-92
Remains of Cloister, 89

Bankside, Southwark, 33, 35-43

Barnard's Inn, originally Mack-
worth's Inn, 212-215

Bartholomew Fair, 152

St. Bartholomew the Great, West
Smithfield, Church of, 151

St. Bartholomew the Less, Church
of, 153

St. Bartholomew, Priory of, 150,

151
Bath Hotel, Piccadilly, 166
Beaumont, Fletcher, and Massin-

ger in Southwark, 45, 46
Becket, Thomas a, 2
Bedford Hotel, Covent Garden,

253
Bell Inn, Holhorn, 15^-161
Bell Inn, Southwark, 4
Bell Inn, Warwick Lane, 110
Bell and Crown Inn, Holhorn, 163
Bertie {see Lindsey and Ancaster)
Bishopsgate Street Without, old

houses in, 51-54
Black Bull Inn, Aldgate, 78, 79
Black Bull Inn, Holborn, 161-162
Black Friars or Friars-Preachers

of the Dominican order in

London, 116-118
Black Jack Tavern, Portsmouth

Street, 242, 243
Black, William, 157, 255
Blake, AVilliam, 254
Blessington, Countess of, 274
Blue Coat School {see Christ's

Hospital)
Bohemia, Elizabeth, Queen of,

245
Boleyn family, 65
Botolph Lane, old house in, 85-87
Bradmore House, Hammersmith,

282, 284
" Brompton Boilers," 274

287

288 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Bromptou, Old, 275
Brunei family, 170
Buckingham, Dukes of, 98, 254
Buckingham Street, Strand, 254,

255
Bull and Bear baiting. South wark,

35, 37, 41
BuUingham House, Kensington,

280
Burney, Fanny, 240, 282

Dr. Charles, 282
Butler, Samuel, 231
Butterwick estate. Hammersmith,

283

Cade, Jack, 6, 10, 11

Campden House, Kensington, 279,

280
Chambers, Sir William, 27, 239
Charing Cross, 256, 257
Chaucer, Geoffrey, and the Tabard

Inn, 4, 6, 7
Cheapside, No. 73 (the Old

Mansion House), 95, 96
Cheere, Sir Henry, 218
Child and Co., 171
Choate, Mr. J. H. (late American

ambassador), 260
Christ's Hospital, Newgate Street,

on site of Grey Friars' Con-
vent, 143-148, 156
Cider Cellars Tavern, Maiden

Lane, 253
Clement's Inn, 180, 215-219
St. Clement Danes, Church of,

243, 244
Clifford's Inn, 220-231
Clink Liberty, Southwark, 27, 36,

38,41
Clink Prison, Southwark, 27
Cloth Fair, West Smithfield, 151,

152
Coal Hole Tavern, Fountain

Court, 253
Cock Tavern, Fleet Street, 173-176
Cock and Pie Public-house, 246
Cogers, Society of, 172

Cold Harbour, 134
Cole, Sir Henry, 274
Coleherne Court, 272
Coleman Street, No. 4, 93-95
College Hill, old houses on, 98,

99
Coutts and Co., 256
Craven, first Earl of, 245
Cremorne Gardens, 264, 265, 267
Cricketers, Australian aboriginal

in Southwark, 21, 22
Cromer, Earl of, 278
Cromwell, Oliver, 58, 93, 164, 177
Cromwell House {see Hale House,

Kensington)
Crosby, Sir John, 60
Crosby Hall Chambers, 64
Crosby Place, 59-64
Crosby Square, 63, 64
Curzon family, 277

Dacre's Almshouses {see Emanuel

Hospital)
Danes Inn {see Angel Inn)
Deanery of St. Paul's, 104
Dean's Court, St. Paul's Church-
yard, 103, 104
De Foe, Daniel, on the King's
Bench Prison, 30
Mention of the Three Nuns
Inn, 78
Devil Tavern, Fleet Street, 171
Devonshire, Duke of, 225
Dickens, Charles, and the White
Hart Inn, Southwark, 12-15
and the George Inn, South-
wark, 18
and the Marshalsea Prison, 28
and the King's Bench Prison, 81
and Horsemonger Lane Gaol, 32
and the Black Bull Inn, Aid-
gate, 78
and the Black Bull Inn, Hol-

born, 161, 162
Residence in Furnival's Inn, 207
Mention of Staple Inn, Holborn,
211

INDEX

289

DickenSj Charles —

and Barnard's Inn^ Holborn,215
and No. 58 Lincoln's Inn Fields^

239
and the " Old Curiosity Shop/'

241
Reference to Magpie and Stump
Tavern " in the vicinity of
Clare Market/' 243
and Buckingham Street, Strand,
255
Dick's Coffee-house, Fleet Street,

202-204
Dore, Gustave, his death, 160
Downing, Sir George, 260
Downing Street, No. 10, official
residence of the first Lord of
the Treasury, 258-260
Drury Court, once Maypole Alley,

245
Drury Lane, 244, 246, 247
Dry den, John, 170, 171
Durham House, Strand, 252
Dyer, George, 231

Ely House, Holborn, 154
Emanuel Hospital, Westminster,

260-262
Essex Street, Strand, Essex Head

Tavern in, 249
Etty, R.A., William, 255
Evans's Supper Rooms, Covent

Garden, 253

Fairlawn, Hammersmith Road, 282

Farrer, Sir William, 237

Fastolf, Sir John, 10

Feret, C. J., 267-269

Field Court {see Gray's Inn Square)

Fitzstephen on London Churches,

118
Forster, John, 239
Fountain Court, Strand, 253, 254
Fountain Tavern, Inner Temple

Gate-house, 193, 194, 197,198
Franklin, Benjamin, 240
Furnival's Inn, 207

Garden House, Clements Inn, 217
Garrick, David, 254
George Inn, Southwark, 3, 15-18
George the Fourth Tavern,

Gilbert's Passage, 242, 243
St. George, Botolph Lane, Church

of, 129, 130
St. Giles, Cripplegate, Church of,

54-58
Globe Theatre, Bankside, South-
wark, 38, 40
Gloucester House, Piccadilly, 257,

259
Goldsmith, Oliver, 177, 178
Goose and Gridiron Inn, London

House Yard, 107, 108
Gore House, Kensington, 274
Gray's Inn, 205
Gray's Inn Square, No. 15, as

seen from Field Court, 205
Great Exhibition of 1851, 273, 274
Great St. Helen's, No. 10, 65, m
Nos. 8 and 9, QQ
Entrance to Great St. Helen's, 72
Judd's Almhouses there, 72
Great Winchester St., No. 23, 92
Green Dragon Inn, St. Andrew's

Hill, 106
Green ^^ Paddy" 253
Gresham Family, 126, 127
Grey Friars in London, 143-148
Guy, Thomas, Founder of the

Hospital, 23
Gwyn, Eleanor, 234, 235, 246,

247, 252, 268, 269

Hale House, Kensington, 274
Half Moon Inn, Southwark, 31
Hanseatic Merchants, 128
Hare Court, Temple, 202, 203
Harrington estate, Kensington,

274
Harrington House, Craig's Court,

257
Harvard, John, 20,
Harvard College, United States of

America, 20, 260

290 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 211
Hazlitt, W. C, 275
Heathcock Court, Strand, 252
St. Helen, Bishopsgate St. , Church

of, 65, Q6
Herring, Archbishop, 278
Hoefnagel, Joris, Picture by, 45
Holt, Chief Justice, 214
Holy Trinity Minories, Church of,

81,82
Holywell Street, Strand, 243, 244
Hook, Theodore, 242
Hooper, Bishop, 244
Hopton s Almhouses, Southwark,

42,48
Horse and Groom Alehouse,

Leather Lane^ 163
Horsemonger Lane Goal, South-
wark, 32
Hunsden, Henry Carey, Lord, in

Southwark, 34, 38
Hunter, Dr. John, his house at

Earl's Court, 272
Hyde Abbey, 5

Impey, Sir Elijah, 284

Inner Temple Gate-house, No. 17

Fleet Street, 180-198
Ireland Yard, Blackfriars, Gothic
remains in, 115-118
Shakespeare's house in, 106, 118

Jacobsen, Theodore, 129
Johnson, Dr. Samuel at the

Anchor Brewery, 40
At the Mitre Tavern, 171
With Goldsmith in Westminster

Abbey and by Temple Bar,

177, 178
At Staple Inn and Gough Square,

211
His Club in Essex Street, 249
At Charing Cross, 256
Jones, Inigo, and the Porch of

St. Helen's Church, 65
And Nos. 8 and 9 Great St.

Helen's, 67

Jones, Inigo —

and the Inner Temple Gate-
house, 192
His work in Lincoln's Inn

Fields, 233
And Portsmouth House, 234
And Lindsey House, 238
And Covent Garden, 253
And York Watergate, 256
Judd's Almhouses, Great St.
Helen's, 72, 73

Kean, Edmund, 253
Kelly, Sir Fitzroy, 209
Kemble, John, 242
Kensington Canal, 267, 268
Kensington Palace, 273
Kensington Square, 278, 279
Kensington Wells, 273
King's Bench Prison, Southwark,

29-32
King's Head Inn, Southwark, 3,

23-27

Lamb, Charles ("Elia"), 203

Lambert, General John, 272

La Trobe family, 169

Laurence Poultney Hill, old door-
ways on, 96, 97
Old Crypt there, part of Sir
John de Poultney's mansion,
131-143

Lawrence, Sir John, 68-71

Lay ton's Yard or Buildings,
Southwark, 31, 32

Leather Lane, 154, 162, 163

Lefevre family, 90

Lemon, Mark, 243, 244

Lethaby, W. R., 218

Lethieullier family, 99, 100

Lime Street, old mansion in, 87, 88

Lincoln's Inn, 204

Lincoln's Inn Fields, 233-240

Lindsey, Robert Bertie, Earl of,
238

Lindsey House, Chelsea, 169, 170,
264

INDEX

291

Lindsey House, Lincoln's Inn

P^ields, 238, 288, 289, 264
London, Roman wall of, 112-115
London Bridge, Old, 47
Lowther Arcade, 256
Lyon's Inn, 207

Macaulay, Lord, 263, 264
Maitland House, Kensington, 281
Mark Lane, old house in, 88, 84
Marks, Alfred, 110, 289
Marshalsea Prison, Southwark,

28,29
St. Mary le Strand, Church of,

248
Maunders Fish Shop, Cheyne

Walk, 264, 265
Mazarin, Duchess of, 278
Merchant Taylors' Company, 140-

142
St. Michael, Bassishaw, Church of,

126, 127
St. Michael, Wood Street, Church

of, 121-126
St. Mildred, Bread Street, Church

of, 128
Mill, John Stuart, 281
Miller, Joe, 242

Milton, John, burial place of, 58
Minet family, 90
" The Mint," Southwark, 29
Mitre Tavern, Fleet Street, 171,

172
Moravian Community in Nevill's

Court and at Lindsey House,

Chelsea, 168-170
Morris, William, 215
Mulgrave, Edmund Sheffield, Earl

of, 283

Nando'sCoiFee-house, Fleet Street,

199-202
Nevill's Court, Fetter Lane, Nos.

10, 13, 14, and 15, 167-170
Newcastle, Dukes of, 287
Newcastle House, Lincoln's Inn

Fields, 236-238

Newgate Prison, 112, 113

Roman remains there, 112-117
New Inn, 219, 220
Newton, Sir Isaac, 280
Northbrook, Earl of, 278
Northumberland House, Strand,
248

"Old Curiosity Shop," Ports-
mouth Street, 240-242

Olmius family, 89, 90

Oxford Arms Inn, Warwick Lane,
108-110

Paddington Green, thatched
cottage near, 284, 285

Paris Garden, Manor of, South-
wark, 38-35

Paul, Roland, 217

St. Paul's Deanery, 104

St. Paul's pier and wharf, 101-103
Old house there, 101

People's Palace, Mile End, 76

Pepys, Samuel, in Southwark, 37
His residence in Seething Lane,

85
At the Cock Tavern, Fleet

Street, 173
In Buckingham Street, Strand,
255

Peter the Great, 255

Pindar, Sir Paul, and his house,
51-54

Pope's Head {see King's Head
Inn, Southwark)

Portsmouth, Earls of, 235, 236

Portsmouth, Louise de Keroualle,
Duchess of, 234, 285

Portsmouth House, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, 234-286

Portsmouth Street, 285, 240, 241

Potter, Richard, 281

Powys, Marquis of, 287

Pulteney, Sir John de, 133, 134

Queen's Head Inn, Southwark,
3, 18-23

292 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

Quest House, St. Giles, Cripple-
gate, 55, 56

Rahere, founder of St. Bartholo-
mew's Priory and Hospital,
150, 152

Rainbow Tavern, Fleet Street,
172, 200, 202

Red Cow Public House, Hammer-
smith Road, 283

Reuss, Henry, Count, 169

Rich, first Lord, 151

Roman remains in London, 1, 2,
23, 47, 48, 111-114, 148, 250,
251

Rose Theatre, Southwark, 38
Rose Alley, 40

Sandford Manor House, 268-271
Sand's End or Sandy End, 268,

269
Saracen's Head Inn, Aldgate, 82
Sardinia Street, formerly Duke

Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields,

233, 240
St. Anne, Blackfriars, Church of,

117
St. Bartholomew, Priory of, 150,

151
St. Bartholomew the Great, West

Smithfield, Church of, 151
St. Bartholomew the Less, Church

of, 153
St. Clement Danes, Church of,

243, 244
St. George, Botolph Lane, Church

of, 129, 130
St. Giles, Cripplegate, Church of,

54-58
St. Helen, Bishopsgate St. , Church

of, 65, 66
St. Mary le Strand, Church of,

243
St. Michael, Bassishaw, Church of,

126, 127
St. Michael, Wood St. , Church of,

121-126

St. Mildred, Bread Street, Church

of, 128
St. Paul's Deanery, 104
St. Paul's Pier and V^liarf, 101-103

Old house there, 101
St. Saviour's Church (now
Cathedral), Southwark, 45, 46
Savoy Chapel, 248
Scarsdale House, Kensington,

276, 277
Schomberg House, Piccadilly, 257
Scroope's Inn, 208
Seething Lane, Residence of

Samuel Pepys in, 85
Serjeant's Inn, 207, 208
Shakespeare, Edmond or Edmund,

49
Shakespeare William, His refer-
ence to the White Hart Inn,
11
His residence in Southwark, 38
Connection with Globe Theatre,

38
Connection with Rose Theatre,

38
Falcon Tavern, 41
Reference to Crosby Place, 61
His probable residence in St.

Helen's Parish, 61
Connection with the Blackfriars

Theatre, 106
His house in Ireland Yard, 106,

118
His reference to " the Rose,"
St. Laurence Poultney, 13i3,
139
Quotation from his play of King

Henry IV. Part IL, 180
Reference to Clement's Inn,
216
Sheppard, Jack, 242, 245
Shorter, Sir John, 152
Siddons, Mrs., 283
Sieve Tavern, Church Street,

Minories, 80, 81
Simpson's Tavern, Strand, 254
Six Bells Tavern, Chelsea, 264

INDEX

293

Skinners' Company's Almshouses^

Mile End, 73, 74
Scmers, first Lord, 237
Somerset House, Strand, 248
Sophia, Princess, 281
Southwark, 1-46
Spedding-, James, 239
Spencer, Sir John, 61, 62
Stamford Bridge, 267
Stanfield, R. A. , William Clarkson,

255
Staple Inn, 209-212
Steelyard, 128
Stews, Bankside, Southwark, 37,

39,40
Stone, Nicholas, 256
Stow, John, Reference to South-
wark, from his ^' Survey," 1
His list of Southwark Inns, 3
On the Tabard, 5
On Goodman's Fields, 80
On Paul's Wharf, 102
On the Inns of Chancery, 205,

206
Strand, various old houses in the,

249-252
Strand Lane, Roman Bath, 250,

251
Suffolk, Charles Brandon, Duke

of, his mansion in Southwark,

29
Has a grant of Pulteney's Inn

or the '"^ Manor of the Rose,"

139, 140
Suffolk Lane, No. 2, 97, 98
Suffolk Lane, Old house in, 97,

98
Sundial, Clement's Inn, 217
Swan Theatre, Southwark, 39
Swan with Two Necks Inn, Carter

Lane, 104, 105

Tabard Inn, Southwark, 3-9
Talleyrand - Perigord, Charles

Maurice de, 278
Taylor, John (Water-poet), 8, 11,

12, 36, 44, 156

Temple Bar, 176-179, 201
Temple, Inner, 204
Temple, Middle, 204
Tennyson, Alfred, 239, 240
Terrace, The, Kensington, 277
Thackeray, W. M, , possible refer-
ence to Clement's Inn, 216
His reference to the ''^Cave of

Harmony," 253
To Kensington Square, 279
His residence in Young Street,
279
Thackeray, Miss (Mrs. Richmond
Ritchie), her reference to
Scarsdale House, 277
Thatched cottage near Paddington

Green, 284, 285
Thatched House Court, 252
Thavies Inn, 206
Thrale, Mr. and Mrs. , 40, 249
Trinity Hospital, Mile End, 74
Turner, J. W. M., cottage in
Chelsea, where he died, 266

Victoria, H.M. Queen, 75, 177
Vine Tavern, Mile End, 75-77

Walpole, Sir Robert, 254, 258
Walter, Sir Edward, K.C.B., 252
Ward, first Lord, 25
Warde, Sir Patience, 141, 142
Waverley, Abbot of, 5, 24
Waxworks, Mrs. Salmon's, after-
wards Mrs. Clark's, 195-198
Wheatley and Cunningham's

London Past and Present, 164,

249
Whistler, J. A. M., at Lindsey

House, Chelsea, 170
In Cheyne Walk, 265
Whitechapel, 77, 78
White Hart Inn, Southwark, 3,

9-15
White Hart Yard, Brooke Street,

Holborn, 164 ,
White Horse Cellars, Old and

New, Piccadilly, 167

294 LONDON VANISHED AND VANISHING

White Horse Inn, Fetter Lane,
165-167

White Horse Irni, Holland Lane,
282

White Lion Prison, Southwark, 28

Whittington, Richard, 98

Wilkie, Sir David, 281

Will Waterproofs Lyrical Mono-
logue, 174

Wren, Sir Christopher, in South-
wark, 41, 42
Reputed connection with house

in Botolph Lane, 87
Architect of the Deanery of
St. Paul's, 104

Wren, Sir Christopher —

At the Goose and Gridiron

Tavern, 108
Architect of City Churches, 119-
121, 126, 127, 129
Wych Street, 244, 245

York House, Kensington, 281
York Watergate, 255
Young Street, Thackeray's house
in, 279

Zinzendorf, Count, 168, 169

THE END

Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.

IN THE SAME SERIES

All with Full = Page Illustrations in Colour
EACH 20/-' NET.

THE SCENERY
OF LONDON

PAINTED BY
HERBERT M. MARSHALL, R.W. S.

DESCRIBED BY G. E. MITTON

CONTAINING 75 FULL-PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

" None but a highly-gifted artist who was also a
profoundly sympathetic student of the contributing
factors of London's wonderful appeal to the eye and
imagination could have caught so much of its potent
and infinitely diversified charm, or conveyed its colour
and atmosphere and the many and various conditions
with such almost invariable fidelity as Mr. Marshall
has done in these delicate and delightful sketches ;
while Miss Mitton has here given fresh and most
acceptable proof of that 'extensive and peculiar'
knowledge of London which rendered her so valued a
coadjutor of the late Sir Walter 'Besa.nt."—TAe World.

LONDON
TO THE NORE

PAINTED BY
W. L. WYLLIE, A.R.A.

DESCRIBED BY MRS. WYLLIE

CONTAINING 60 FULL-PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

" Now, at last, comes a volume which gives us the
whole soul and figure, so to speak, of the great fleet-
bearing, commercial, and warlike stream which con-
stitutes the greatest port in the world— the port of
London," — Daily Graphic.

" This charming work is in every way welcome, and
every Londoner who reads it will prize it. The repro-
ductions are exquisitely done." — Pall Mall Gazette.

FAMILIAR
LONDON

PAINTED AND DESCRIBED BY
ROSE BARTON

CONTAINING 6o FULL-PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

" Miss Barton yields to no artist as the pictorial

chronicler of London. She gives us the London we

know and love, the London which is part of the

workaday lives we spend in the market of the Universe."

Douglas Sladen in The Queen.

"We cannot recall a collection of London pictures
that catches and convej's better the spirit, the genius,
and the charm of modern London with deeper subtlety

and finer execution." — Literary World.

Prospectuses may be bad on application to the Publisbers,

ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

THE SURVEY OF LONDON

Sir Walter Besant's Magnum Opus

Demy 4to, Cloth, Gilt Top, profusely illustrated from
Contemporary Prints

EACH

30/-

NET.

LONDON

IN THE

EIGHTEENTH

CENTURY

" To praise this book were superfluous. Sir Walter
was ideally suited for the task which he set him-
self. He was an antiquarian, but not a Dryasdust ;
he had the topographical sense, but he spares us
measurements ; he was pleasantly discursive ; if he
moralised he was never tedious ; he had the novelist's
eye for the romantic. Above all, he loved and
reverenced London. Though only a Londoner by
adoption, he bestowed upon the capital a more
than filial regard. Besant is the nineteeth -century
Stow, and something more. . . . This remarkable
volume. ... It is a monument of faithful and careful
research." — Daily Telegraph.

LONDON IN
THE TIME OF
THE STUARTS

" This is a handsome and valuable volume, and the
several chapters give, with the broad, comprehensive
touch of a master-hand, a wonderfully vivid impression
of the great city the late Sir Walter knew so well in
its modern a^spect.' — The Spectator.

" Most rteadable and interesting ... it is a mine
in which the student alike of topography and of
manners and customs may dig and dig again with the
certainty of finding sopiething new and interesting." —
The Times.

LONDON IN
THE TIME OF
THE TUDORS

This is the third volume in the series of Sir Walter
Besant's great Survey of London. It is similar in style
to the previous volumes, "London in the Eighteenth
Century " and " London in the time of the Stuarts," and,
like them, is profusely illustrated with contemporary
prints. In Tudor London, especially in the person of
the great Queen who dominated the epoch. Sir Walter
Besant has found a subject after his own heart.
Elizabeth's character, her weaknesses, her greatness,
her love of display, and her hold on the hearts of her
subjects, are described ably and vividly. — Publishers'
Note.

MEDIAEVAL MEDIAEVAL

LONDON LONDON

!♦ Social anb Ibtstortcal 2» lEcclesiasttcal

In the Press.

ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK • SOHO SQUARE • LONDON • W.

A. & C. BLACKS LIST OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR.

IN THE SAME SERIES

ALL WITH PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
EACH 20s. NET

"Of all God's gifts to the sight of man,
colour is the holiest, the most Divine, the
most solemn." —Ji7tskin.

DESCRIBED BY SIR MARTIN CONWAY
PAINTED BY A. D. M'CORMICK

THE ALPS

70 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

TEXT BY MARCUS B. HUISH, LL.B.

BRITISH WATER-
COLOUR ART, Etc.

60 OF THE king's PICTURES IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I., R.E.
DESCRIBED BY DOROTHY MENPES

BRITTANY

75 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED AND DESCRIBED BY
R. TALBOT KELLY, R.B.A.

BURMA

75 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY HENRY B. WIMBUSH
DESCRIBED BY EDITH F. CAREY

THE
CHANNEL ISLANDS

76 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

TEXT BY JOSEPH GREGO

CRUIKSHANK'S
WATER-COLOURS

FULL-PAGE FACSIMILE REPRODUCTIONS IN
COLOUR

BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.
TEXT BY DOROTHY MENPES

THE DURBAR

100 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED AND DESCRIBED BY R. TALBOT
KELLY. R.B.A.

EGYPT

75 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

"All men completely organized and justly
tempered enjoy colour ; it is meant for the
perpetual comfort and delight of the human

heart." —Huskin.

BY HELEN ALLINGHAM, R.W.S.
TEXT BY MARCUS B. HUISH

HAPPY ENGLAND

FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY A. HEATON COOPER
DESCRIBED BY WILLIAM PALMb-R

THE ENGLISH LAKES

75 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY COL. R. C. GOFF
DESCRIBED BY MRS. GOFF

FLORENCE AND SOME
TUSCAN CITIES

75 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

BY M. H. SPIELMANN, F.S.A.,
AND G. S. LAYARD

KATE GREENAWAY

75 FULL- PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS (51 IN COLOUR)
AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

BY NICO JUNGMAN
TEXT BY BEATRIX JUNGMAN

HOLLAND

76 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R.I.
DESCRIBED BY THE REV. JOHN KELMAN, M.A.

THE HOLY LAND

92 FULL-PAGE ILLU.STRATIONS, MOSTLY IN
COLOUR

BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.
TEXT BY 'flora A. STEEL

INDIA

75 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY FRANCIS S. WALKER, R.H.A.
DESCRIBED BY FRANK MATHEW

IRELAND

77 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PUBLISHED BY A. & C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS

IN THE SAME SERIES

ALL WITH PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

EACH 20s> NET

PAINTED BY ELLA DU CANE
DESCRIBED BY RICHARD BAGOT

THE ITALIAN LAKES

69 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.
TEXT BY DOROTHY MENPES

JAPAN

100 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY ROSE BARTON, A.R.W.S.

FAMILIAR LONDON

60 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY W. L. WYLLIE, A.R.A.
DESCRIBED BY MARIAN AMY WYLLIE

LONDON TO THE
NORE

60 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED AND DESCRIBED BY PHILIP
NORMAN, F.S.A.

LONDON VANISHED
AND VANISHING

76 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY HERBERT M. MARSHALL, R.W.S.
DESCRIBED BY G. E. MITTON

THE SCENERY OF
LONDON

75 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY A. S. FORREST
DESCRIBED BY S. L. BENSUSAN

MOROCCO

74 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

liY AUGUSTINE FITZGERALD
TEXT BY SYBIL FITZGERALD

NAPLES

80 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY NICO JUNGMAN
DESCRIBED BY BEATRIX JUNGMAN

NORWAY

75 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R.I.
DESCRIBED BY EDWARD THOMAS

OXFORD

60 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

EACH 20s. NET

PAINTED BY ALBERTO PISA

TEXT BY M. A. R. TUKER AND HOPE

MALLESON

ROME

70 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY SUTTON PALMER
PESCRIBED BY A. R. HOPE MONCRIEFF

BONNIE SCOTLAND

76 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED AND DESCRIBED BY A. HENRY
SAVAGE LANDOR

TIBET AND NEPAL

75 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS (50 IN COLOUl

BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.
TEXT BY DOROTHY MENPES

VENICE

100 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY ROBERT FOWLER. R.I.
DESCRIBED BY EDWARD THOMAS

BEAUTIFUL WALES

76 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.
TEXT BY DOROTHY MENPES

WAR IMPRESSIONS

99 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
BY CAPTAIN S. E. ST. LEGER

WAR SKETCHES IN
COLOUR

166 ILLUSTRATIONS (50 IN COLOUR)

PAINTED BY A. S. FORREST
DESCRIBED BY JOHN HENDERSON

THE WEST INDIES

74 FULL -PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.
TEXT BY DOROTHY MENPES

WORLD'S CHILDREN

100 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.
TEXT BY DORO-THY MENPES

WORLD PICTURES

600 ILLUSTRATIONS (50 IN COLOUR)

PUBLISHED BY A. & C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS

ILLUSTRATED IN THE SAME STYLE
AS THE 20s. SERIES

PRICE 7S. 6d. NET EACH

PAINTED BY WM. SMITH, JUN.
DESCRIBED BY THE REV. W. S. CROCKETT

ABBOTSFORD

20 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

BY C. LEWIS HI\D

ADVENTURES AMONG
PICTURES

24 FULI^PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS (8 IN COLOUR, 16 IN
BLACK AND WHITE)

BY GERTRUDE DEMAIN HAMMOND

THE BEAUTIFUL BIRTH-
DAY BOOK

12 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
DECORATIVE BORDERS BY A. A. TURBAYNE

PAINTED BY JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R I.
TEXT BY ROSALINE MASSON

EDINBURGH

21 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY GEORGE 8. ELGOOD, R.I.

TEXT BY ALFRED AUSTIN, Poet Laureate

THE GARDEN THAT I LOVE

16 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

BY LADY BUTLER
PAINTER OF "THE ROLL CALL"

LETTERS FROM THE
HOLY LAND

16 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY
LADY BUTLER

PAINTED AND DESCRIBED BY
MRS. WILLIXGHAM RAWNSLEY

THE NEW FOREST

20 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY ARTHUR GEORGE BELL
DESCRIBED BY NANCY E. BELL

NUREMBERG

20 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PAINTED BY H. J. DOBSOX, R.S.W.
DESCRIBED BY WM. SANDERSON

SCOTTISH LIFE AND
CHARACTER

20 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTR.ATIONS IN COLOUR

PRINTED BY HELEN ALLINGHAM, R.W.S.
DESCRIBED BY ARTHUR H. PATERSON

THE
HOMES OF TENNYSON

20 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

BY W. EARL HODGSON

TROUT FISHING

WITH A MODEL BOOK OF FLIES IN COLOUR

BY C. LEWIS HIND

DAYS WITH VELASQUEZ

24 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS (8 IN COLOUR AND
16 l.\ BLACK AND WHITE)

PAINTED BY JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R.I.
TEXT BY MRS. A. MURRAY SMITH

WESTMINSTER ABBEY

21 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

BY OLIVER GOLDSMITH

THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD

13 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY AN
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ARTIST

BY G0R:)0N HOME

YORKSHIRE

COAST AND MOORLAND SCENES
32 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTR.\TIONS IN COLOUI

PRICE 10s.

NET EACH

PAINTED BY A. FORESTIER

PAINTED BY NICO JUNGMAN

DESCRIBED BY G. W, T. OMOND

DESCRIBED BY G. E. MITTON

BRUGES

AND WEST FLANDERS

NORMANDY

33 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

40 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PUBLISHED BY A. & C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS

OTHER BOOKS WITH FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

IN COLOUR

BY MORTIMER MENPES

WHISTLER AS I KNEW HIM

SQUARE IMPERIAL OCTAVO, CLOTH, GILT TOP (ll X 8J INCHES). PRICE 408. NET.

125 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR AND TINT OF WHISTLER OIL-COLOURS, WATER-COLOURS, PASTELS,

AND ETCHINGS

BY MORTIMER MENPES

REMBRANDT

DEMY QUARTO (ll X 8i INCHES) CLOTH, GILT TOP. PRICE 12s. 6cl. NET.

16 leXAMPLES OF THE MASTER'S WORK, REPRODUCED IN COLOUR FACSIMILE BY A SPECIAL PROCESS

BY SIR WALTER SCOTT

THE LADY OF THE LAKE

LARGE CROWN OCTAVO, CLOTH, GILT TOP. PRICE 5s. NET.

50 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRA'l IONS (8 OF THEM IN COLOUR), FROM PAINTINGS BY SUTTON PALMER

WITH FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

PRICE 6S. EACH

BY S. R. CROCKETT

RED CAP TALES

STOLEN FROM THE TREASURE-CHEST
OF THE WIZARD OF THE NORTH

16 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY
SIMON HARMON VEDDER

BY ASCOTT R. HOPE

THE
ADVENTURES OF PUNCH

12 FJLL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY
STEPHEN BAGHOT DE LA BERE

ANIMAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

THE BLACK BEAR.

BY H. PERRY ROBINSON

THE CAT.
THE DOG.
THE RAT.

BY VIOLET HUNT
BY G. E. MITTON
BY G. M. A. HEWETT

Others iti pfcparation

EACH CONTAINING 12 KULL-PACiE ILLUSTRATIONS IN
COLOUR

TRANSLATED AND ABRIDGED BY DOMINICK DALY
THE ADVENTURES OF

DON QUIXOTE

12 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY
STEPHEN B.\GHOT DE LA BERE

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS

16 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY
STEPHEN BAGHOT DE LA BERE

BY JOHN BUNYAN

THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS

8 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY
GERTRUDE DEMAIN HAMMOND, R.I.

BY P. G. WODEHOUSE

WILLIAM TELL TOLD
AGAIN

16 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY
PHILIP DADD

BY G. E. MITTON

CHILDREN'S BOOK OF
LONDON

12 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTR.-iTIONS IN COLOUR BY
JOHN WILLIAMSON

BY THE REV. R. C. GILLIE

THE STOI^ OF STORIES

32 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTR.VnONS

BY THE REV. R. C. GILLIE

THE KINSFOLK AND
FRIENDS OF JESUS

16 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR AND SEPIA

BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

8 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR, AND
MANY OTHERS IN THE TEXT

PUBLISHED BY A. & C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

I5m-12,'24

' (V^'

YD 0660

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

cos^aa3b^s

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Texts

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "London vanished and vanishing"

See other formats